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"I'd like to do something but it's too difficult to avoid using cloud services." In Cloud We Trust, eh? Oh dear. The fact that this is edging ahead is a worry

by eksith 13y ago

"I'd like to do something but it's too difficult to avoid using cloud services." In Cloud We Trust, eh? Oh dear. The fact that this is edging ahead is a worry indeed. This presumes a significant number of people (in a reasonably tech-savvy crowd) decided to build their infrastructure on VMs vs. proper iron (hired or otherwise). I hate to sound like a broken record, but Stallman was right. From 2008 : http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/cloud.computing.richard.stallman http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/cloud.compu... "One reason you should not use web applications to do your computing is that you lose control," he said. "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." I'm not above absolved though. I use Gmail too.

u2328 13y ago
So what do we do? What does Stallman do? Do I run my own postfix box in my closet? I'm suppose I'm technically literate enough to pull it off, but what about friends and family?
- eksith 13y ago
  Speaking of friends and family... Once upon a time a friend of mine did this for me on his FreeBSD box. My username at his domain.com worked pretty well, but I couldn't send big attachments (this was on his dinky little 400Mhz box with a massive 40Gb WD drive). It's terribly inconvenient, but if plenty of other people begin to do that already, I'm sure some nifty startup will create tools to automate the tedious bits. Add a site too, and you have something a bit like a "presence-in-a-box" package, if you will, that you can run over your home cable/DSL/FiOS connection.
- icebraining 13y ago
  The FreedomBox Foundation[1], headed by Eben Moglen[2], is trying to build a plug computer based on Free Software so that "anybody, regardless of technical skill, can easily enjoy secure, private, even anonymous communication". [1] https://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/learn https://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/learn [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Moglen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Moglen

by eksith 13y ago

u2328 13y ago

So what do we do? What does Stallman do? Do I run my own postfix box in my closet? I'm suppose I'm technically literate enough to pull it off, but what about friends and family?

eksith 13y ago
Speaking of friends and family... Once upon a time a friend of mine did this for me on his FreeBSD box. My username at his domain.com worked pretty well, but I couldn't send big attachments (this was on his dinky little 400Mhz box with a massive 40Gb WD drive). It's terribly inconvenient, but if plenty of other people begin to do that already, I'm sure some nifty startup will create tools to automate the tedious bits. Add a site too, and you have something a bit like a "presence-in-a-box" package, if you will, that you can run over your home cable/DSL/FiOS connection.
icebraining 13y ago
The FreedomBox Foundation[1], headed by Eben Moglen[2], is trying to build a plug computer based on Free Software so that "anybody, regardless of technical skill, can easily enjoy secure, private, even anonymous communication". [1] https://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/learn https://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/learn [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Moglen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Moglen