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Factors That Hurt Cloud Computing Confidence

by Gregory on October 22, 2012

in Business, Cloud Computing, Computing, IT, Security, Technology, Trends

Factors That Hurt Cloud Computing Confidence

Cloud computing has been called a saint and other great names by friends and foe. It promises great benefits, cost cuts and efficiencies at individual and enterprise level. However, even as momentum grows, uptake figures have not been at all impressive. In fact, experts indicate that the confidence in the cloud and what it can do is waning. This trend is negative. In this article, we look at some of the factors that hurt cloud computing confidence, especially among would be users.

Insecurity in the cloud

Security is one of the hottest cloud computing topics. It worries so many people. Depending on the application whose service you use with the cloud, security cannot be guaranteed. And because of the fact that cloud computing is entirely constructed on the precepts of the internet, it’s hard to convince one security is taken care of. Moreover, more and more companies are attached in the cloud by malicious hackers. These security threats deem user confidence because people love to back up their data, feel it and see it-as is the case with traditional techniques.

Control by service providers

Cloud computing service providers call the shots. The developers choose what to make accessible to the normal users. This means that, users have no say in what they get. They are dictated to by the whims of the providers. This is a negative characteristic. People love it when it’s them who decide what to customize or not.

Internet dependency

Internet dependency for computing is scary. It can limit your ability to access a program if it’s slow. This means that you could lose a lot if anything went wrong. However, with a desktop application, whether or not the internet does exist is a question of no consequence. You can use it whenever you want. Outages and breakdowns in internet communications cannot harm you.

Advertising dangers

Sometimes, the cloud is complicated. To cover expenses, some cloud computing services that are free show adverts. For users, this can be so annoying. Not only is this practice disruptive, but it also makes the user experience poor. This proliferates the malware spread on the internet, phishing, spam and other negatives associated with sudden pop ups and computer viruses.

Privacy and potential for censorships

Committing all your applications to the cloud is a huge risk. Naturally, you give all authority to a given entity, corporate, etc. to manage your personal data. In countries like China where governments are obsessed about monitoring individual liberties, the effects could be detrimental. They can actually descend on personal information at will. This is against all individual rights.

Poor industry regulation framework

Regulation of cloud computing has been discussed at various cloud computing forums. This is because it’s a contentious issue for many consumers. Cloud computing companies have a free hand to run all their affairs. They offer what they deem fit. In most cases, the rights of the consumers are not negotiated in the contracts. This exposes users to a lot of risk and no guarantees. To keep off these problems, people keep off this life saving technology.

By Gregory Musungu

(Disclaimer: CloudTweaks publishes news and opinion articles from different contributors. All views and opinions in these articles belong entirely to our contributors. They do not reflect or represent in any way the personal or professional opinions of CloudTweaks.com or those of its staff.)
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Gregory is a writer from Kenya whose education background is Biotechnology, New Media and Accounting. When his intense passion for the tech sphere is not sending him to experiment with new gadgets and technology, you can find him creatively engaged in Nairobi’s thriving underground art scene, copywriting and design.

2 comments
Telecomguru7
Telecomguru7

Unfortunately this gentleman has never had the opportunity to deal with a professional cloud company.  Clearly he is referring to services that are free.  Clearly you get what you pay for.  IE low security, advertising, Etc..  We are a professional cloud company with data centers all over the U.S.  Our data centers build our entire environments and infrastructures according to our customers specifications.  This can be managed solely by our clients with our company having no access to their data or it can be managed at any level by our company according to our clients requirements.  Our engineers and data centers are some of the best in the world, with us being as hands on or as hands off as our clients wish.  Make sure you delineate between free and low cost cloud computing and companies that offer enterprise level cloud computing.    

cloud computing
cloud computing

Although its true that the factors listed above does affect cloud's confidence, we have to admit that cloud has been very useful in many ways.  I guess we need to put more time and effort in enhancing cloud's system and integrate it to our system properly.