Overcast, or, How I learned to stop whining and embrace the cloud

It's one of the most predictable responses in all of tech: Every time there's a blowup over some online service's privacy or data security lapses, if you stick your head out the window and focus yourself just so, you can hear the rumble in the distance as naysayers happily share their told-you-so stories of woe.

Without your even asking, they'll go into excruciating detail over how cloud-based services aren't ready for prime time and probably never will be. They'll tell you how distrustful Web services vendors are, how they view our confidential data as means to a profitable end, and how only an idiot would move off of conventional network-controlled infrastructure and throw every shred of personally identifiable data into the nebulous clutches of an unseen service provider.

By the time they get to the part where they swear they'll never run anything that isn't installed on a server that they physically control, I'm just about ready to run for the exits.

There's no going back

I've been hearing a lot of this over the last few months. First when Facebook's latest privacy faux-pas earned it the undying attention of Canada's Privacy Commissioner, and last week following the firestorm of disapproval that followed the Google Buzz launch. And as much as I believe companies like Facebook and Google need to be held accountable for their too-loose interpretations of confidentiality and privacy, I'm similarly adamant that the cloud don't-wanna-bes are howling senselessly at the moon.

A little history might help make this a little easier to take. A cloud-free existence is as impossible to imagine today as a phone-free one was in the '70s, a PC or fax-free one in the '90s, or an Internet-free life for much of the past 15 years. Like it or not, the cloud -- or Web-based services, or software-as-a-service, or whatever else you want to call it -- is here to stay, and anyone who sanctimoniously opts out amid claims of never, ever moving over is in for a rude awakening.

That's because, despite the still-significant issues surrounding the transition of applications from locally installed, owned, and administered infrastructure to a decentralized model that's controlled by a provider other than you or your company, the cat is already out of the bag and it won't be getting back in anytime soon. Make that at all. When we go online in any capacity -- even reading a site like Betanews and leaving a comment -- we're buying into the cloud-based paradigm where we leave footprints far outside our firewall and far beyond our own ability to control them.

If only it were so simple that anyone who wanted to opt out of a cloudy existence could flip a switch and make it happen. Sadly for these Luddites of the Web Age, it isn't. If they were to successfully take their opposition to all things cloud-based to its ultimate conclusion, they'd miss out on pretty much every form of online interaction that increasingly drives our personal and professional lives.

With that in mind, if you find yourself among the cloud-hating minority, here's what you'd miss out if you decide to fully cut the Web services chord and revert to a locally-hosted and controlled way of life:

• E-mail. That message you just sent your mom? As soon as it leaves your cozy network, it's in the cloud, touching servers near and far, going places you couldn't even begin to imagine. E-mail was the first and still is arguably most widely used cloud-based app. I'd like to suggest dusting off that old fax machine and calling a paper supplier.
• Web browsing. When we go online, we leave traces of ourselves virtually everywhere we go. We don't even have to deliberately leave a comment, either. That pesky little IP address of yours gets logged into every Web site you visit. With it, the server owner can find out a whole lot about you. The cloud strikes again, apparently. I hear broadcast television (which you're going to be watching extensively after you remove all traces of Web activity from your day-to-day existence) is still somewhat interesting once the infomercials are over.
• Text messaging. That cell phone in your pocket isn't immune to the influence of the cloud, either. Few online services are as easy for carriers to track as SMS-based messages. So when you fling your girlfriend a text that you're picking milk up on the way home, you're buying into the cloud. Now that I think of it, even a voice call kind of qualifies, so you may as well pitch your cell phone or smartphone entirely. To ensure you're not out of touch, stock up on quarters and hope Ma Bell doesn't yank every last pay phone from your favorite haunts.

Insert tongue firmly in cheek

I realize I'm being more than a little ridiculous. But sometimes it takes one form of silliness to expose another. Our interconnected online economy practically compels us all to give up some personal information to a third party at some point in time. No, we don't all have to join Facebook, and we can buy and install Outlook and Exchange on our own machines instead of farming our messaging service out to Google. But at some point, the strategy of limiting exposure to online services and holding on to as much physical ownership of applications and data as possible simply runs out of steam. Eventually, your data's going to have to leave the nest, venture outside the firewall, and land on a server that you do not own.

Taking the high (and mighty) road of cloud-refusal ignores the growing reality that standalone solutions relegate those who use them to a standalone existence. While it's entirely possible that someone could unplug and live an idyllic life off the grid, it's infinitely more likely that this is little more than a pipe dream for most of us. The Internet as a whole is one giant cloud-based service. We can no more easily turn it off than we can learn to live without telephones. The world relies too heavily on this interconnected technology, and our ability to build careers and connect with the people who matter most increasingly relies on it, too.

Photo credit: Carmi Levy

Carmi Levy is a Canadian-based independent technology analyst and journalist still trying to live down his past life leading help desks and managing projects for large financial services organizations. He comments extensively in a wide range of media, and works closely with clients to help them leverage technology and social media tools and processes to drive their business.