Setback for Cloud Computing; Higher Standards Needed
I can only imagine the anger and frustration of customers of T-Mobile Sidekick. Earlier this month, many lost pictures, contact numbers, calendar dates and other data on the Microsoft cloud server Microsoft/Danger. This is yet another setback for consumer cloud users, following a recent Google Gmail outage and other fiascos.
In an Oct. 12th press release put out by T-Mobile and MS, the company thanked customers for their patience and noted that service had been restored to most and that hard-working teams were re-establishing full stability. T-Mobile and MS said they would continue to try and recover lost content and that “recent efforts indicate the prospects of recovering some lost content may now be possible.” At the same time, it acknowledged that some may never recover their data.
Cloud computing defenders say that losses like these can easily be avoided by backing up customers’ data – something that individual PC users are continually urged to do to save their own internally stored files and information.
I agree. Website monitoring can help, too, by alerting companies when they’re approaching usage thresholds and keeping track of access highs and lows.
I think, too, that, whether you’re talking about cloud computing for consumers or businesses, we need more industry-established standards, security and safety guarantees and such to bring more users – consumers and businesses — to the cloud. We won’t get them without more confidence out there in the very concept and workability of the cloud.
