Aug 14, 2008 11:30 AM | 6 Comments

Are you blithely trusting all your email and private data to Apple or Google? The MobileMe and Gmail outages remind Adam Turner that cloud computing has its risks.

Not long ago I was raving about the freedom that living in the cloud provides. For someone who is very paranoid about his backups, I've been disturbingly relaxed about the risks involved with storing everything in the cloud.

My switch to Google Docs
Six months ago, when I switched from Windows to Mac, I wasn't happy with the Mac-based backup solutions. I decided to switch to Google Docs for writing my articles, rather than using a desktop word processor, and I haven't looked back.

Google Docs offers me the flexibility of platform-agnostic universal access, with my documents stored in an enterprise-grade data centre, and I even have access to my revision history.

The old worry - what if my Internet connection goes down?
My early reservations about cloud computing mostly revolved around the reliability of Internet Service Providers - understandable in Australia.

If your link to the cloud drops out, you're screwed. Until moving house this week I'd been on Optus cable for about six years. It was rock solid for the first few years but it got a little flaky near the end - yet nothing like the horror stories you hear from Bigpond customers.

If the Fit hits the Shan - I've got Vodafone wireless
The rise of cheap wireless broadband has helped eased my concerns about internet outages, as you can now invest in a wireless backup for only a few dollars a month (with the added bonus of being able to work in the cafe down the road).

I've got a Vodafone USB modem with 5GB for $39 per month - the speed is average but coverage is wide and the price is right. Hutchison's 3 offers even cheaper deals that would be perfect for city slickers looking for a wireless backup.

If your livelihood relies on internet access, you'd be a fool not to invest in a cheap USB wireless broadband modem. The day the fit hits the shan, you'll consider it the best $20 per month you ever spent.

Wireless broadband is also perfect if you're setting up a site office, or just in the middle of a relocation. Right now I'm using my Vodafone USB modem in combination with a D-Link DIR-451 3G mobile router, livin' la vida wireless while I wait for the telephone and DSL to be connected at my new house.

Cloud backup option #2 is...cough...dialup
Most Google services will even run over dialup in an emergency, and my old house had both copper and cable telephone lines as yet another form of redundancy.

At my new house - between DSL, PSTN and wireless broadband - I'm not too worried about never being able to connect to the internet.

My new worry - Gmail goes down
Of course the other big risk with cloud computing is if my Application Service Provider suffers an outage or, worse still, data loss.

Apple's MobileMe disaster and the Gmail outage should serve as a timely reminder to people that cloud computing is not infallible.

If Google Docs went down when I was on deadline, I'd be in some serious trouble. If I'm working on something big, I tend to copy and paste it onto my desktop every now and then.

If Google lost all my documents I'd also be in trouble and there's a few that I tend to backup manually, but the best backup solutions require no human intervention.

Where are decent sync options for Google Docs?
There are a few offline Google Docs sync tools available, but I haven't seen anything I like that's completely set-and-forget yet. I think Zoho is working on something like this with Omindrive, with the ability to sync documents in Omnidrive and your desktop via FTP.
I suspect Google would be working on the same idea.

The first online word processor to offer a decent offline sync solution could win me away from Google Docs. The beauty of online word processing is that it's easy to switch providers, unlike online email and calendar services.

Do you live in the cloud? What precautions do you take? Add your comments below.

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socrates Aug 14, 2008 4:14 PM	Google docs already has offline sync... check out Google Gears. I've been using this for a month or so and it has worked flawlessly so far. You can continue to work on docs whilst not connected to the internet, then it syncs when you get online again. Plus you can see your current online/offline status within Google Docs.
Adam Turner Aug 14, 2008 10:24 PM	I've tried Google Gears but it seemed to slow my browser down a lot (Firefox on Leopard). Might be time to give it another shot. Even though, I'd prefer a backup option that let me store my documents as plain text files.
midbear Aug 15, 2008 12:28 AM	Once small laptops and netbooks have 8 hour battery life's and the syncing is perfect, I can envisage a writers paradise of lounging in the local park on a warm summers day tapping away on your wireless broadband enabled netbook while connected to your paradise in the clouds...mmmm...paradise. ;-)
Adam Turner Aug 15, 2008 10:43 AM	@midbear we're getting there
midbear Aug 15, 2008 2:30 PM	indeed, I'm hoping it comes with a 10inch touch screen tablet, and cappuccino maker!
socrates Aug 15, 2008 5:34 PM	I haven't had any speed issues with Google Gears so far (Firefox on Vista). After posting my original comment I checked the functionality a bit more, and it seems not all docs are synced (old ones I hadn't opened in a while couldn't be accessed offline... maybe just pre-gears docs that I hadn't viewed yet, will keep an eye on this!). A nice feature would be to edit offline via Office and keep things synced in Google docs, although I realize this may be unlikely as they store the docs in different formats. I've seen some Fujitsu ultra-portables specified with ~11hrs battery life, so if you're willing to sacrifice a little power a full days computing is close (of course, wait till they specify 16hrs+ before getting 8 hours in real use :). I've heard of some battery tech in the works that will increase life by an order of magnitude (maybe 10x from recollection)... if true the next few years will be very interesting indeed. Also we area at a point where most people don't need more powerful processors, so we are seeing a focus on reducing energy consumption as much as increasing speed. The Atom & Nano are a good start, but I can see in a few years having mobile processors using the same tiny amount of energy (as Atom etc) but being as fast as todays mid-top line mobile CPU's. Bring it on!