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Comment by riffraff | Hacker News Reader

Arguable. For one, iCloud will allow you to keep "the last 1000 pictures", but the mac or pc will be where all of them are supposed to be. I am not a big photographer, but I have at least four times those.

So you will still need a PC, and sadly, a backup system.

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> For one, iCloud will allow you to keep "the last 1000 pictures", but the mac or pc will be where all of them are supposed to be. I am not a big photographer, but I have at least four times those.

It's a bit more complex:

* Photostream will keep 1000 pictures on your device

* And the last 30 days worth of pictures in your iCloud Photostream

* But that's for uncategorized pictures (your photo stream, evolving is kind-of the point of it being a stream), those in albums are there forever, separately, in your iCloud account

We're "post pc" when it comes to multimedia, but not for anything that requires a keyboard, e.g. word processing etc.... That's a big deal, no doubt, but until we move past our reliance on the keyboard for some essential applications, we're not post-pc.

Granted, we're probably headed in that direction.

Apple's bt keyboard works great with the iPad - I use it with mine. So while I agree that there are still apps that are impractical on a tablet (Photoshop with 12MP RAW images, anyone?), needing a keyboard is not a differentiating point.

It's not practical to write an essay on an iPad. Edit: without an external keyboard.

Sure, all you need is a case the makes it easy to carry both the keyboard and the device together. Perhaps with a hinge on one side so the keyboard protects the screen when you're not using it?

At least I have the option to not carry the keyboard (and usually, I don't.)

Arguable. You can move any photo from the 1,000 picture photostream into an album on your iPad or iPhone. Then the albums are all backed up to the iCloud's separate backup service.

Is that forever or as long as you have the photo on your device? I guess my question more broadly is what is Apple's "post-PC" scheme for the long term archiving of photos and other data?

PC is still the mass storage device where you can keep your lifetime of pictures. But some people don't think of pictures in terms of archiving. They think in terms of taking pictures, sharing them, and moving on. I'm not a "Post PC" person because I want to store my TBs of photos and maintain the external HD and DVD backups of same. Today's teenager is probably happy to let Facebook "store" their photos for them.

Hm. Interesting point. So, I guess what you're saying is that the question itself is not from a "Post-PC" perspective?

It's interesting, but seems like conflating a desire for archive with a desire for PC-level control. They seem like parallel but distinct issues to me.

Even FB stores those photos in perpetuity, doesn't it? I really don't know, I'm not on FB.

Is the idea of permanence or permanent record fading with the PC?

yes, but the pictures I have on my laptop tend to be a superset of those I have on my iphone, and AFAIU those will not be backed up in iCloud, please correct me if I'm wrong.

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