[BlackDynamite]

Originally Posted by gcianc

I think the definition of "cloud" is creating some miscommunication here. Cloud is not all or none. If you think "cultural" changes are required to allow people to use cloud then you are totally mistaken or have a very different use of the term "cloud" as what it really means to mass-market and phones. Let me explain...

First off, I'm not talking about "cloud" as abandoning traditional PCs & hard drives or having terminals only with all of your personal (and corporate) data in "clouds" managed by an anonymous party. That is fantasy land nowhere close to reality. There is obviously a need now & in the future for local data (and local apps) as well as "cloud" data (as well as web/cloud apps). The need for both will remain distinct for years to come, even if you had worldwide 5G unlimited bandwidth devices.

Cloud data - so to speak - CAN/NEEDS TO BE AVAILABLE LOCALLY. For example your google calendar (in a cloud) sync'd to outlook mobile. The cloud complaints fail to realize this or think it will be a non-option one day. BTW it's also why google docs has an "offline mode".

People have been using "clouds" since ftp and made mass-market by webmail which of course was introduced many years ago. Of course you know of the services like Microsoft Office "cloud", nevermind the huge success of google docs, photoshop online, etc. You might not see that as a "cloud" but it sure is!

Unfortunately MS is just a few years late and not implementing cloud integration which is absolutely necessary and expected for mass market devices (ie. smartphones in 2010+).

People want to gain access to commonly used info wherever they are on all devices. Clouds allow that (even though it's confusing and essentially should be invisible to the customer). Mobile phone bandwidth limits cloud & sync presently to things like calendar, contacts, bookmarks, notes/memos, etc. Even streaming music or media from a "cloud" is not reasonable and will be excessive bandwidth.

As successful as you say Office Cloud and Photoshop Online have been- they are not even close to the success of the offline version. Plenty of people, the vast majority even, prefer the local versions.