‘Cloud computing is insane’: Richard Stallman
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Google is touting ‘cloud computing’ hot and heavy.
But Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and creator of the computer operating system GNU, says it’s a trap.
The concept of using web-based programs like Google’s Gmail is “worse than stupidity”, he told The Guardian, “it’s a marketing hype campaign”.
Cloud computing, “where IT power is delivered over the internet as you need it, rather than drawn from a desktop computer,” has captured the imaginations of the likes not only of Google, will also Microsoft and Amazon, who are, “pushing forward their plans to deliver information and software over the net,” says the story.
But, Stallman believes, it’s no more than a trap, “aimed at forcing more people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that would cost them more and more over time”.
Nor is Oracle founder Larry Ellison impressed.
“The interesting thing about cloud computing is that we’ve redefined cloud computing to include everything that we already do,” The Guardian has him saying.
“The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women’s fashion. Maybe I’m an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It’s complete gibberish. It’s insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?”
And there are other concerns.
There’s been a, “growing concern that mainstream adoption of cloud computing could present a mixture of privacy and ownership issues, with users potentially being locked out of their own files,” says the story, quoting Stallman as declaring:
“One reason you should not use web applications to do your computing is that you lose control. It’s just as bad as using a proprietary program. Do your own computing on your own computer with your copy of a freedom-respecting program. If you use a proprietary program or somebody else’s web server, you’re defenceless. You’re putty in the hands of whoever developed that software.”
The Guardian – Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman, September 29, 2008
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September 29th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Gmail is evil =P
September 29th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
While I am a Linux user, apparently Stallman hasn’t seen how useful it is.
September 29th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Linux is the only OS that Stallman (rms) uses.
He prefers to call it GNU/Linux for reasons that are valid, but seem to annoy some people.
GNU’s Not Unix started in 1984.
September 30th, 2008 at 2:05 am
If they used open file standards, and allowed for easy transfer of files between system and computer it’d work nicely.
September 30th, 2008 at 7:19 am
I kind or run a cloud from home so i stay in control and files stay mine. concept of keeping all your devices in synk is fine. trusting your personal data to a corporation is insane.
September 30th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I personally find it hillarious that Stallman still believes he’s some kind of “guru”.
First, GNU was NEVER an “operating system”, because — despite what the GNU project claims — they never actually finished it. Prior to Linus Torvalds’ initial work on the Linux kernel, there was nothing but a large set of GNU “tools” which could be — and WERE — routinely run on other OS’s like Minix for example.
“GNU’s Not Unix” isn’t quite “vaporware”, in that they actually did produce a huge amount of stuff, but, let’s be honest: does anybody actually USE the “Hurd”? Stallman etc. spend huge amounts of time bleating about how it should be called “GNU/Linux”, and at the same time taking every opportunity they can in discussion forums to tell everybody else just how fundamentally unimportant they believe the Kernel to really be.
The thing that always got me about this was: if the Kernel is just some semi-meaningless little widget — as opposed to, oh, let’s say, the most fundamental part of the operating system — then why in the HELL did they opt for some kind of “truly revolutionary micro-kernel” instead of just doing something like Torvalds did.
If they’d bothered to get a COMPLETE Os released — not just a half-finished jigsaw puzzle which others had to finish — THEN “Linux” never would have happened, and the FSF would still be the “only voice” in the open-source/”Free” software debate.
And yes, Stallman does annoy me. His concerns are about as “valid” as what he called the “obnoxious advertising clause” in the BSD license.
What’s happening here, people? First Lessig becomes a whore for DRM, and now Stallman lurches back into the limelight coming out against something that doesn’t even exist.
We’ve been using “cloud computing” for YEARS. Everytime that some website loads a “java applet” on your system, they are “delivering software via the net”.
If the issue is “people not having access to their own files”, there’s a simple answer: it’s NOT an either-or thing. Dump all of your file-saves to a USB key. The scenario Stallman is whinging about hasn’t actually existed since the 1970s: dumb-terminals connected to mainframes, y’know?
Not coincidentally, that was also the period right before Stallman came to prevalence. There are other, much more coherent voices in the FLOSS — Free/Opensource Software Scene — but you pick Stallman.
Give us some Eric Raymond or Torvalds.
Lessig’s completely sold out, and Stallman’s doing his Don Quixote thing again.
This gives me an idea for a submission, actually…..