[Discuss] UbuntuOne alternatives

[Murray Strome]

On 14-04-07 09:41 PM, Alan W. Irwin wrote:
> On 2014-04-07 18:49-0700 Murray Strome wrote:
>
>> On 14-04-07 04:47 PM, Alan W. Irwin wrote:
>>> On 2014-04-07 16:00-0700 Murray Strome wrote:
>>>
>>>> At the last BB&C LINUX SIG meeting, Google Drive was suggested as a 
>>>> good alternative to UbuntuOne. It has lots of storage, but is 
>>>> uploading to it ever SLOW!
>>>
>>> Why use any such cloud alternative when an external drive works so
>>> much better (e.g., because of concerns over freedom, speed, and
>>> privacy of the cloud) for the same purpose?
>>>
>>> Alan
>> I don't have access to the external drive when I am away from home 
>> and all my computers at home are powered down!
>
> There is no point turning off computers just for the day while you are
> gone.
I am talking about when I am away for weeks, not just a few hours. I am 
usually working on some project or another when travelling (e.g. I may 
be preparing a photobook, or a presentation) and want to continue 
working on it.  I do take a small 500G 2.5 external hard drive but 
sometimes want to refer to other material. None of my data in the cloud 
is particularly sensitive or especially private, so I am not really too 
concerned about the privacy issue.
> But assuming you are referring to longer time scales, sure turn off
> the home PC for a holiday, but then I view a holiday as a wonderful
> time to be completely disconnected! The one counter-example that might
> concern me with that option is storage for my holiday pictures. But I
> don't know how big that factor really is because I am not a
> photographer.  Also, I don't know how difficult it is simply to take
> along enough memory cards to hold a holiday's worth of images.
It is not just the current holiday's photos that I want to have with me. 
Generally, I download all the photos I take on a given day to my home 
computer (if that is where I am) or the notebook or laptop (whichever I 
have with me). I than back them up to the small portable USB drive if I 
am away, or the Network Drive if I am at home.

Things that I like to have in the cloud so that it is accessible even 
when I don't have my own computer with me, for example, are all of our 
recipes. Also, any photos that I think might be of interest to people we 
are visiting.
>
>> Also, the external (Network Drive) is also pretty slow.
>
> But a direct (non-network) esata drive is extremely fast!  And I also
> think it is a very good way to simplify your life to limit yourself to
> just one extremely good PC in the home office. 
Since I do a lot of video editing in Windows (which needs all the speed 
I can get) and most of my other work in LINUX, it is very convenient to 
have one computer running LINUX and another (sharing the monitor, 
keyboard and mouse since I don't have room for two of each) so I can 
switch back and forth.

> Others that need PC
> access elsewhere in the house (or for simultaneous access with
> different keyboards/monitors in the same office) should use thin
> clients which means all storage of files is concentrated in the one PC
> and those files then can be backed up with one esata hard drive
> rather than fooling with a network drive.
I suppose I could do that (if I were to take the time to re-learn how).  
I did have things set up so that if I were in the family room (where my 
wife's computer is located) I could use SSH to open a window to access 
my LINUX computer. However, it would take me a while to relearn how to 
do this and to set it up again.
>
> One big issue with cloud computing for me is privacy.  It's obvious
> that company's that store your data feel they have a right to sift
> through it for anything they can find that might be commerically
> valuable such as obtaining a personal profile on you so that you can
> be effectively targeted by advertising. In fact, there was a
> well-circulated quote from a google vice president several years ago
> essentially saying that anybody that uses google services should not
> expect privacy!
>
> All the above is, of course, my opinion about certain simplifying
> lifestyle choices that can be made with computer technology.  Of
> course, others here will have different opinions, but those lifestyle
> choices have worked well for me, and I assume they will also work well
> for the rest of you here who like the KISS principle as much as I do.
>
> Alan