Is the iCloud the end of the Linux & Windows desktop?

I think a cloud-based operating system, like Google’ Chrome OS, has a bright future. But, when I look at Apple’s Lion, which will only be available as an upgrade by a 4GB download, and iCloud plans I begin to wonder just how much any fat-client operating system-Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows-have if Apple and Google have their way.

As Jobs put it, the PC centric data model is broken. And, so the digital hub will move from being the PC to the iCloud and the Mac will be “demoted.”

What did he mean by that? My fellow ZDNet writer, Andrew Nusca, put it well, “Mac vs. PC vs. Linux argument from the early days of consumer computing has lost a great deal of its luster in recent years with the development of cloud computing on the open web.” The operating system wars are far from over though. Nusca continued, “Concept of platform wars is quickly making up for lost ground with the development of cloud computing in the closed mobile space.”

I’ve always thought that thin-client computing has its place in technology. That’s one reason why I think Google’s Chrome OS has a real shot in dethroning the Window desktop in the office. By making the iCloud the center of everything, instead of the Mac, Apple is trying to wean consumers away from the fat-client PC model that’s served us so well since the day the first IBM PC rolled off the assembly line.

This worries me. If you had fast bandwidth and enough room on your data cap, cloud-based computing is fine. Many of us are already using every day. Oh, you may not think of using Gmail or Google Docs as being on the cloud, but it is and you are.

It’s so darn easy when all you really need to get work done from anywhere is an Internet connection and a Web browser. Forget your file at the office? Just grab your copy from Dropbox, and you’re good to go. But, Jobs takes it even farther. All your data will be on the iCloud and it’s automatically pushed to any of your devices.

It sounds great doesn’t it? I think it sound great too, but, and this is a big one, do you really want to trust Apple or Google with all your data? What happens if you don’t pay your fee to Apple? What happens if the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) demands a copyright audit of all my music on iTunes Match?

You see, I rather like the idea of owning all my media and having it on my servers and PC. This leads me to my other point: I like owning my operating system and applications.

Microsoft will sell me a system, with caveats, but at the end of the day I own it. I have a friend who’s still running Windows XP Media Center 2002. It still works for her and she’s happy with it. That’s great. I’m a big believer in the idea that if something works for you, you should keep using it.

But, as I sit here my with my first generation iPod Touch and Apple TV, neither of them work well with the latest Apple software offerings. Do I want to be forever having to upgrade my Apple hardware to get the most from Apple’ newest features?

At least with Google, the plan is to support the lowest common denominator. If you can use the Chrome Web browser or afford an inexpensive Chromebook, you can use the full-range of Google’s cloud-based services. My friend, for example, uses Chrome 11 on her almost ten-year old PC without a problem.

The problem extends beyond just “owning” an operating system, your application and your data. With Linux, it’s about having control of your operating system.

Richard M. Stallman, creator of the GNU Public License (GPL), developer, and leader of the Free Software Foundation and I disagree on many points. But, when he recently disparaged cloud computing. I had to agree.

Stallman said that in cloud-computing you’re letting “any Tom, Dick and Harry hold your data, let any Tom, Dick and Harry do your computing for you (and control it). Perhaps the term ‘careless computing’ would suit it better.” Stallman fears, “many people will continue moving towards careless computing, because there’s a sucker born every minute. The US government may try to encourage people to place their data where the US government can seize it without showing them a search warrant, rather than in their own property. However, as long as enough of us continue keeping our data under our own control, we can still do so. And we had better do so, or the option may disappear.”

He’s right. With a Linux desktop computer, I own my data, I control my processes. While I can see the cloud having its place for some people and in some situations, I hate this trend we’re seeing of putting everything into someone else’s hands outside of our sight, and all too soon out of mind.

Thin-clients and cloud-computing do have their place, but it’s not a place where I want my data, my work, to live under the control of corporate strangers. For all the ease of use of these methods, I’d prefer to see fat-client desktops like Mint 11 Linux, and, yes, even Windows 7, to continue on for so long as we continue to use computers.

Apple announces iTunes Match, no-upload cloud-based music locker (updated 3x)

Apple used today’s WWDC keynote address to announce a brand new service called iTunes Match - which was also referred to as “iTunes on the cloud.”

iTunes Match will scan your iTunes Library and match songs to an upgraded, 256kbps AAC DRM-free file on Apple’s iCloud server. The service will cost $24.99 per year but it remains to be seen what will happen if you stop paying the annual subscription fee.

Apple touted ‘Match as a huge advantage over competing services from Google and Amazon, because while they can take “weeks” to upload your library, iTunes Match takes “just minutes.”


Apple also touted the service as having the “same benefits as music purchased from iTunes.” Presumably this means that you’ll be able to re-download tracks and see your music history on all of your devices.

Update: Apple has updated its iTunes Terms and Conditions — presumably to address all the new cloud features.


Update2: Apple has posted it’s iCloud features page.

Update3: Sadly, iTunes in the Cloud doesn’t allow streaming of music to your devices, like Google and Amazon do. Deal breaker?

Apple's iCloud like 'new iTunes'

Apple is set to launch its iCloud service which will allow the users stream data stored on Apple servers to their devices including iPhones, iPads and iPods. Don’t think of iCloud as the new MobileMe, think of iCloud as the new iTunes.


The service will be directly competing against similar services launched by Google and Amazon. Cloud computing is going to prove crucial because the mobile devices battle is no more a battle between devices.

What is Cloud Computing?

Let’s say you’re an executive at a large corporation. Your particular responsibilities include making sure that all of your employees have the right hardware and software they need to do their jobs. Buying computers for everyone isn’t enough you also have to purchase software or software licenses to give employees the tools they require.

Whenever you have a new hire, you have to buy more software or make sure your current software license allows another user. It’s so stressful that you find it difficult to go to sleep on your huge pile of money every night.

Soon, there may be an alternative for executives like you. Instead of installing a suite of software for each computer, you’d only have to load one application. That application would allow workers to log into a Web-based service which hosts all the programs the user would need for his or her job.

Remote machines owned by another company would run everything from e-mail to word processing to complex data analysis programs. It’s called cloud computing, and it could change the entire computer industry.



The iCloud has the potential of changing the very basic pattern of media consumption, which in turn may increase demand for more Apple devices among the masses. The iCloud itself may not be something revolutionary, but the forthcoming gadgets designed around it may indeed turn out to be a million dollar opportunity for Apple.

At a time, when Google and Amazon went ahead and launched their cloud services without taking music labels into confidence, Apple took a different route and successfully negotiated with the major music labels. The iCloud service from Apple, however, is much more than just music based service. Users can store almost any type of data in the cloud and access it from almost all of their Apple devices including iPhone and iPad.



It’s not the first foray of Apple in the cloud. It’s earlier web based service, MobileMe — a platform for online services and software from Apple – did not exactly take off at the start, and the service had several breakdowns in its life. Despite its shortcomings, MobileMe in the end ramped up three million users, not bad indeed, but it still is just a fraction of the total number of users iCloud is expected to bring to the Apple.

Apple, Jobs to talk iCloud at WWDC

Apple is kicking off its Worldwide Developers Conference next week with the unveiling of its cloud-based service, iCloud.

Next Monday, Apple will hold its keynote address before a packed house at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. In addition to iCloud, Apple said that it will detail its next-generation desktop operating system,Mac OS X Lion, as well as iOS 5, the next version of the mobile operating system running on its iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

The company also indicated in its press release that CEO Steve Jobs, who is on an indefinite medical leave, will participate in WWDC.

Apple stopped short of providing specifics about Cloud in this morning's announcement. However, details and intimations surrounding the launch of such an offering have been cropping up for quite some time, at the very least since Apple acquired online music-streaming service Lala a year and a half ago.

In January, music industry sourced told that they were in talks with Apple for a cloud-based, streaming music service that would allow users to listen to their tracks over the Web on computers and Apple's mobile devices.

Apple had signed a cloud music licensing agreement with EMI music and was closing in on deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. The company had already reached a cloud deal with Warner Music.

In today's annoucement, Apple did not specifically say that its iCloud service will resolve around music, referring to it tersely as a 'cloud services offering," more than one function.