The Puzzling Case of the Chromebook Pixel

My only problem with ChromeOS and other cloud centric operating systems is that to my mind the safest place for your data is on a media that you and you alone control. While everyone these days seems to be promoting the convenience of cloud storage, nobody ever mentions the dark side. The minute you upload your precious data files to cloud storage, you lose your stronghold over those documents. I only need to point to the 'MegaUpload' debacle last year as exhibit A. Federal authorities shut down that cloud-storage service without assisting innocent customers in retrieving data lost in the process. What would stop that from being repeated in other cloud services for any reasons? Moreover, IMHO, cloud services are a solution looking for a problem. With the advent of massive and inexpensive portable storage like thumbnail sized thumb drives and other minuscule external storage devices, there's really no argument against the fact that anyone can have one's data at arm's reach within seconds on any machine one might use. Consider that such portable media can be encrypted and the argument for cloud storage becomes almost moot.

With my situation, I have more security in the cloud. My PC can be used by any number of people in my office, and as you know, physical access is everything.

but you'd have that same (or better) security if you kept your data on a portable device plugged into the computer when you use it. i see usefulness in using cloud storage as offsite backup and to facilitate sharing.

greetings, eMBee.

As soon as I get my data issues sorted out with my wireless broadband carrier, I will most likely set up a Sea file cloud server, and link all my devices to it, and store shared data in an encrypted directory, although that might wait until I can be sure I can decrypt that data on my phone (Samsung Galaxy Note).

The ability to easily and more or less seamlessly access data across all devices is what carrying a USB key doesn't give you. It works for some but not for others. If I had a tablet the USB approach has some use, but being able to simply store data to a folder on a Laptop, a netbook, a desktop computer, a tablet, and a phone, and have it "instantly" available on any of the other devices is what Cloud gives you that discreet storage devices does not.

In addition in a world such as envisaged by KDE and Canonical, where one device does it all (acts as each of the above mentioned computing devices, depending on the need). At least until we can store TeraBytes on a phone sized devices, and probably even then, cloud storage is essential.

The real issue with cloud storage, is "How much control do you have over your data?"

I'm going to look into it:

http://seafile.com/en/home/