What is the Internet coming to?

[cdaigle430]

Have any of you read the news articles about the next generation of the internet that is being planed? Google, Yahoo, Bing, Microsoft and PC manufactures are planning to do away with the hard drives in your PC and store your data in their network servers. Aside from the ton of things I do not like about it are issues of privacy. Who owns the data, your data? Once all this data is contained at one point, what is stopping the government from saying, we want it? Now hackers have to work at getting the data from your pc, put all that data in one place, what keeps the data from being sold, or mined?

Cloud computing is really what you want it to be. The immediate benfits will come for the pad, mobile and wireless computing. To put it another way-you will still be able to have your own computer with local storage but you will also be given the option for cloud computing for at least another 10-20 years.

Eventually the only hardware you will own is the actual interface-screen and input device. No more having to worry about upgrading a computer or laptop or crashes and expensive hardware is one cool thing. Don't even have to worry about losing or backing up your data. On top of that-once the US Infrastructure or world wireless infrastructure is complete-you can access your stuff from anywhere in the world. Entertainment, work, business, liesure, Home use will all be off of the same interface, thats where I see this all going.....

 

[Brad_Blazer]

How many accurate predictions have there been about what the future holds for the Internet?

The only one I know of is Moore's law.

 

[magicheater]

How many accurate predictions have there been about what the future holds for the Internet? Not many. Who saw Twitter coming? Who saw Facebook coming? How about YouTube? Even Netscape took the world by surprise. All of these innovations transformed the Internet and they were all started by individuals without a takeover plan. I think anytime a big corporation predicts they are about to change the Internet, it hardly ever comes to pass. Google didn't invent the search engine. Rarely does true innovation come from big companies brain storming up in their Ivory Towers. Almost always does it come from an individual who is able to think without boundary conditions set up by a big company.

I have to politely disagree somewhat. These "innovations" did not transform the Internet but were merely an example of the power of the internet which was the basic idea in the first place. They just touched an audience that responded in volume. No people respond=no impact. It took the masses to make them successful. If Google did not invent the search engine (it was just 2 guys), then who did and why are so many trying to copy? All the examples you cite are individuals with an idea using the internet and having the masses follow. Welcome to advertising 101. To bring this back to TBN, all of us connect here because of the internet. Accurate predictions for the internet is practically impossible because of the imagination of man. And who knows where that will lead us. Hopefully to a better attachment for our tractors!:thumbsup:

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Cloud computing is not geared towards the home users.

Check out the new google OS. Look Ma, No Harddrive!

And there were search engines before google, but google just made a good one that people liked.

MS didn't invent dos or the gui based OS, but they made it popular.

 

[troutsqueezer]

Sure thing, disagreement is a good thing. I would say this: There is quite a history with search engines, starting in the 60's with SMART. Way too much to go into here and besides, that would steal the thread. I don't dislike Google but then I didn't dislike Lycos or WebCrawler either.

Gordon Moore's Law only has to do with the doubling of the amount of inexpensive transistors one can fit on a substrate in a two year cycle, not really related to the Internet per se although it certainly helped with the proliferation of blade servers.

 

[charlz]

The price continues to come down on hardware.... think Ipad.... as you get more processor and storage into a smaller form-factor what is the impetus for the consumer to give up storage and processor power to use storage and processor 'the cloud' in a pay-to-play model? This is why I say it is not geared towards the home consumer.

I like Stallman's quote on Wikipedia about cloud computing:

"Richard Stallman said that cloud computing was simply a trap aimed at forcing more people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that would cost them more and more over time. "It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign", he told The Guardian. "Somebody is saying this is inevitable and whenever you hear somebody saying that, it's very likely to be a set of businesses campaigning to make it true.""

Stallman is more than just a little anti-establishment but it rings true to me.

 

[riptides]

The internet is just a communications pipe. The technologies assimilated with it have nothing to do, or everything to do with how it can be used.

No one is forcing you to move your personal data or configurations of your personal hardware anywhere.

 

[milkman]

Some of you guys are making it really hard to perpetuate conspiracy and fear, just look at what you're doing.

 

[sweettractors]

Just heard on the news at lunch that a sophomore at Boston University set up a program where you rate the fellow students on their "Looks" by others. They said about 800 students had pictures on the site and only the top 25 were rated. 2,000,000 + hits. The kid said he was planning on making money on his program as other colleges have already contacted him. May be another facebook in the infant stage. Rate BU Ken Sweet

 

[Scooby074]

Just heard on the news at lunch that a sophomore at Boston University set up a program where you rate the fellow students on their "Looks" by others. They said about 800 students had pictures on the site and only the top 25 were rated. 2,000,000 + hits. The kid said he was planning on making money on his program as other colleges have already contacted him. May be another facebook in the infant stage. Rate BU Ken Sweet

You mean someone recreated Hot ot Not at their university?. H or N has been around since 2000.