Comment by rbanffy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by rbanffy | Hacker News Reader

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> What I dream of is single computing unit (read: cpu + ram + storage + etc.) with the ability to attach to different UIs.

It's called "The Cloud".

On my lap I have a Linux laptop, a couple Google Sheets open, an open Word document (in a browser window) which I was reading a moment ago from my Android tablet. The spreadsheet is also open on the big screen machine upstairs, from where I was videoconferencing before that, and on my wife's laptop (she's working from the kitchen). A couple terminal windows are connected to different servers, one upstairs (actually, a VM running on it), one a beefy GCE instance with lots of number crunching power and the Mac upstairs (the big screen machine), updating ports. If I want to leave the house without a backpack, I can take the tiny Acer "Cloudbook" and summon pretty much all that's on this laptop from there through a VPN and a bastion host.

I can get to my e-mail from anywhere. Same for my documents (Google and Office 365). I can edit code with the tablet (can, but really, no) or any laptop. Where the computing takes place is largely irrelevant - it's taking place in multiple machines, on multiple networks. My phone is just one point where I can get to my stuff.

> It's called "The Cloud".

And it's shit.

A Google Sheets is not Microsoft Excel. Data stored in some proprietary databases are not files. A browser is (still) not an ergonomic platform for work.

> I can edit code with the tablet (can, but really, no) or any laptop.

Exactly. Yes, but really, no. Same for editing images, or doing actual work with documents and spreadsheets.

The problem of the cloud is that data is held captive by SaaS companies, while all we've got are shiny toys working over web browser. We can't exchange data beyond what SaaS vendors allow. We can't edit data in non-vendor-sanctioned tools. We can't work off-line.

We need something that lets you retain ownership and control of your data, supports powerful software running locally, and generally doesn't treat Internet access as if it was electricity (i.e. assumes it's always available).

Microsoft office syncs over OneDrive which just doesn't sync when there's no internet.

That doesn't prevent you from working on the files.

That's the point I'm making. It works well without an internet connection.

> A Google Sheets is not Microsoft Excel.

That's true, but OneDrive is integrated into Windows and the mobile/desktop versions of the Office programs. I can open Word on my Windows desktop, Android phone, or iPad and all of my OneDrive files will be there.

> We can't edit data in non-vendor-sanctioned tools. We can't work off-line.

> We need something that lets you retain ownership and control of your data, supports powerful software running locally, and generally doesn't treat Internet access as if it was electricity (i.e. assumes it's always available).

OneDrive and Google Drive both support offline access to files. They get synced with the cloud the next time you go online. Even Chromebooks, which are basically designed to be always online, can use Google Drive offline.

I am also free to open up any Google Drive or OneDrive file on Windows with any program I want. Both of those services integrate with the file system. On iOS, I'm not sure if it's universal, but most of the apps I use allow me to open a file from Dropbox, Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, etc.

>> It's called "The Cloud".

> And it's shit.

Perhaps the answer is "the cloud" but not the way you see it now. We're at the point where streaming games running on a remote server is actually a thing (it's still not great, but it's a start).

If bandwidth gets fast enough, maybe the future is you running desktop apps using a super fast remote desktop that's in the cloud, and not the overglorified web apps that we currently think of as "the cloud".

> We're at the point where streaming games running on a remote server is actually a thing (it's still not great, but it's a start).

Only if you live near their datacenters and have exceptional bandwidth and pings - a real problem when the major ISPs consider 150ms+ pings and kb/s internet speeds to be "fast enough" for their customers.

You also have to give up a lot of "rights" to play those games - all of your "first sale" doctrines, backing up saves, the ability to play offline, and so forth.

It might be a start for some, but it's a non-starter for so many more.

> The problem of the cloud is that data is held captive by SaaS companies

Only if you want it that way. An NFS share can serve as a single source for your files (extra points if it's on a block-deduped, snapshotted volume). Since well before DropBox, I used a Subversion server to hold data I wanted to share across multiple laptops (back when git didn't exist, wifi was not ubiquitous, and phone data was expensive and only usable via USB). While there is nothing comparable to Google docs or Office 365 that I can host myself (that I know of), I am pretty happy with them (even though they may not be as capable as Office or LibreOffice or Python with Pandas, they do the job).

> We need something that lets you retain ownership

A small cloud server costs about $5/month. You can set up one at your house and use whatever broadband you have.

Carrying around a computer that's optimized for small size like my Celeron-based laptop, but smaller, like my phone, but also fast like my Xeon W desktop, with enough memory for me to work - 16 GB may be enough, with a capable mid-range GPU for number crunching, but also with a long battery life and a enough storage to hold my projects is not possible yet and, when it is, I doubt it'll be enough.

When you use the cloud, you're immediately at the mercy of three entities:

The provider, who can ban you on their whim with no practical recourse.

The ISPs between yourself and your provider, which is a real problem when ISPs have such lax requirements about "what is broadband"; when they have huge ambitions for making money off your traffic.

The browser vendors, who break backwards compatibility like it's going out of style. This goes back to the provider too, who like to dictate which browser you must use to access their services.

That's a lot of links in a fragile chain just to have access to basic computer functionality.

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