What does everyone think about the idea of online computing? Having the actual OS, applications etc running from a server somewhere else online, and accessing them from your home PC like a terminal to these services?

It is Google's idea for the future of home computing, and other companies are also interested in this approach. You can see why a developer becomes interested in this idea. They can have the current version of their OS and/or software installed and working on their servers at all times, controlling how it is setup and running, with no need to provide updates or downloads for their customers. They remain completely in control of everything. And with each user needing to subscribe to the service on a monthly basis, it ensures a much better monthly revenue stream than can ever be achieved from standalone packages sold to customers and installed on their home computer.

Even games developers are looking into this idea, having the latest games running on powerful computers at the developers end, with players logging into the games from their home computers which won't (in theory) need powerful graphics cards or processors, as that will all be done at the server end before the end results are piped to the gamer, so the gamer's computer will just act as a terminal receiving the outputted graphics and sound from the game developer's server.

I personally don't see that second gaming idea coming off. We just don't have the bandwidth on today's broadband connections, or the power on today's servers to deliver this idea. You would surely need a server per player at the moment to deliver the kind of processing and GPU power needed to deliver the quality and levels that the current wave of PC games deliver, and then there is the delay in getting the graphics and sound from that server to your PC over the network connection. I just don't see it happening. MMO style serverside games are one thing, but they still rely on the player's computer running the client side of the game, rendering the graphics and generating the sound. Overloading all of that hardware requirements from the gamer's system onto the server is in my view currently far from possible. Interesting idea, and maybe in the future it might be possible, but for now I just don't see it happening.

As for OS and applications. That is a slightly different matter. It is fully possible to have a clientside OS that runs like a terminal and connects to the actual applications and utilities at the server end. However how restrictive would that be? Everything about the OS would be dictated by the developer. The OS version and its features would always be what the developer wishes, and the applications available would be only those the developer built or authorised to be available.

The iPhone and its apps store is something Google and others have also taken note of. Seeing how Apple have been able to make money from this idea, selling each addon App to the end user. They see this as the future as they are orientated by money.

For the non technical home computer user I can sadly see this all becoming reality. Having an OS they don't need to maintain and easy to obtain applications from an online store that bolt straight into the OS without the need for install discs or configuration. For novice users, or technophobes this might look ideal. Even if the developer is preying on them, selling them silly little Apps that do pointless things at £2 a pop.

But for the real computer users this is quite frightening. I for one don't want someone else dictating what the OS I use should be like or how it should be configured. Or what programs I am allowed to install on it.

Finally there is the concern about files. Music files, video files, text files, word documents, photos, images we create etc... all our personal stuff. Going further we have our rom collections, archives of manuals, scans, images etc... If Google and others get their own way these would also all be stored on their servers alongside the OS. Removing the need for the user to backup their data and therefore never have the danger of losing it all due to a harddrive failure.

Personally I want to be in control of my own data and files. I don't want it all stored on someone else's servers for them to control. Who knows what would happen to them.

The danger is that the market is dictated by the most common user, and this is the computer illiterate home user who has no clue about computers, how they work, or what to do when they go wrong. They are the people who think the iPhone is great and paying £2 for an app that makes your iPhone a spirit level is worth the money.

It is these scary people who dictate the direction of the computer marketplace, and it is these people who will see serverside cluster storage and online OSs as the next great thing. Being able to access your OS, Apps and files from any internet enabled computer for them will be the perfect computing solution.

OK, I can actually see an advantage to that last comment. If you were working on something, being able to access it from any computer location would have advantages. As a student for example, working on an essay, you could write some of it at college, then go home and continue, without needing to worry about saving the file to a usb pen, or emailing it to yourself. No need for the right software to open it etc. For office style work online OSs and computing might be worthwhile.

But for everything else I want my computer to remain on my desk, installed and configured how I wish, with my files stored locally where I can access them and do what I like with them.

I definitely don't want my MP3 collection stored on some server being scrutinised to see if every files is owned by me.

And that is the rub. Why do these companies really want us all to move over to serverside storage and online OSs? Control of copyright and the end to piracy. If you can only access an OS from the developer's server, run applications you can purchased from their store, and listen to music you have purchased in their library, then they fully control all parts of that computing environment and can make sure every user is only using a purchased copy of the files they are using.

Big brother and 1984 spring to mind.

Your thoughts?
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