Ihnatko's Great Analogy of What iCloud Does

[NebulaClash]

In this Macworld article, Andy Ihnatko says this about iCloud as opposed to what Google or Amazon does with cloud technology:

"What I find most remarkable about iCloud is that (unless there’s a lot more that Apple hasn’t shown us yet) it’s not a destination: it’s a highway system. Yes, technically my iCloud contains loads of information and files, but that fact chiefly articulates itself when I pick up my iPad, launch Pages, and resume work on an article right from the point I left it on my MacBook earlier in the day. We understood iDisk (and even Dropbox) as a directory on a remote server that we could attach to our local file system and use for storage. Despite Apple’s positioning of iCloud as a Huge Thing, we’re not meant to even think of iDisk at all. We’re meant to just have our data where we need it, when we need it. iCloud is the reason why when I got back to my hotel room I found that my bed had been turned down and there was a bottle of Coke already on ice. It’s not the phone call I make to a hotel service to make those things happen."

That seems exactly right. So far we are used to cloud offerings that require us to do something to get our information onto or off of remote servers. Whether it's uploading files to iDisk or Google Docs, we have to initiate something. We have to call room service, and only then does our bed get made up.

iCloud is different. With iCloud-aware apps, the data is automatically put where we want them on whatever device we use. We don't have to call room service, room service knows to make up the bed every day when we are not in the room.

This is why what Apple is doing is different and revolutionary. We've had cloud technology for some time now and the geeks know how to use it to good effect. But the average person (as usual) can't be bothered to learn it or use it. So Apple is making something that will just work behind the scenes. A person will create a document in Pages on their MacBook, switch to their iPad and there the updated doc will be ready for them. Room service took care of it automatically. When the average person gets this, iCloud will be incredibly popular. Once again Apple is catering to the far larger average-person market, and once again it is the geeks who are complaining while continuing to think in old ways about how cloud technology works.

 

[QuarterSwede]

This is why I love reading and listening to Andy Inhatko.

 

[marc11]

Yes I agree with all of this. But the gap if you will that I see in iCloud is that is STILL requires your crap to live some place locally and in fact live in multiple places locally. Therefore, the restriction is, has been and for the short term future, device memory/storage capacity.

There is the issue and what we all hoped iCloud would solve, let me take 10 gigs of local stuff with me, let me share it if I want across my devices, but give me access to the 500 gigs of crap I have some place else, when I want, how I want and where I want. That is what the cloud is supposed to give us, that is NOT what Apple is giving us, so far as we can tell.

What Apple is giving is us is really cool cross device data synchronization and back up services.

As I said before, and I will say it again, I do not want 1000 pictures on my iPhone and I sure as hell have no value in having those 1000 pictures living on every device I own, not when I have 10,000 pictures and growing every day. I want access to all 10,000 pictures or a sub set of them on the devices I choose. Gallery does that, iCloud doesn't.

I do not want my son to have access to my documents, but I do want my iPhone to have access to some, but not all of my documents, but then sometimes I want access to old documents. From what I can tell, Apple doesn't support this with iCloud.

I could go on and on, but you get my point. Yes, it is a great sync service (seemingly, we do not know for sure) and yes, it will make for great wireless back ups and I suppose restorations. And sure, working on a document on my MBP and then accessing it later on my iPhone is great. But what happens when I am about to board a plane and I need that important document from last year? Or I want to watch Monty Python's Holy Grail on the plane for the 5000th time but forgot to load it before I left? Can I get that stuff? If I cannot, then it is a cloud failure IMHO.

But maybe I am missing something, clearly the whole picture hasn't been drawn by Apple yet and shame on them for leaving more questions and more doubt than is required. Apple seems to have gone off with the iCloud announcement as prematurely as a teenage boy with his first girlfriend. Sure it felt good at the time, but clearly, waiting a bit more and taking their time would have netted a win win for everyone involved.

 

[NebulaClash]

We will have to wait and see exactly what iCloud does and what it provides for us, but this feels like a very big deal to Apple. And in the past when Apple introduces a very big deal (iPod, iPhone, iPad, OS X), you can be sure that version 1.0 of the item is not where it ends. Later versions build on what was a very solid foundation that supports much greater functionality down the road. Apple merely places the bricks on the foundation carefully and deliberately, if maybe not at the speed we would like.

I suspect what iCloud is in 2011 and what it will be in 2015 will be night and day.

 

[marc11]

We will have to wait and see exactly what iCloud does and what it provides for us, but this feels like a very big deal to Apple. And in the past when Apple introduces a very big deal (iPod, iPhone, iPad, OS X), you can be sure that version 1.0 of the item is not where it ends. Later versions build on what was a very solid foundation that supports much greater functionality down the road. Apple merely places the bricks on the foundation carefully and deliberately, if maybe not at the speed we would like.

I suspect what iCloud is in 2011 and what it will be in 2015 will be night and day.

Yep I agree with you 100%. We need to wait and see, which I why I am not moving anything to Photobucket or Dropbox yet, just have the free accounts ready in case. And I agree what we get now and what we get down the road should be different.

However, I am betting the same was said about MM when it was created as a replacement to iTools/.mac, Apple failed to grasp/execute then too, they were so close, but failed, here is to hoping they get it right this time.

 

[NebulaClash]

I think Apple learned some hard lessons from MM.

 

[marc11]

You know, the more I think about his anology the more I think it is flawed a bit. He states, iCloud is like having a coke on ice and his bed turned down, it isn't about the call to make that happen, but the fact that it happened, right?

But where was that coke stored, with iCloud that coke was in his own fridge, which means he had to pay to keep that coke at home and then when he went to the hotel he had to bring that coke with him to be available when he wanted it. I want the coke available anywhere at anytime but I do not want to drag it in my carry on with me.

Hmmmm, I am over thinking this, lol!

 

[BillyBobBongo]

Hmmmm, I am over thinking this, lol!

I thnk the more important question here is why didn't he order a beer?!

 

[marc11]

I thnk the more important question here is why didn't he order a beer?!

Indeed, THAT is a good question!

 

[NebulaClash]

If you know Andy Ihnatko, you know he always has a Coke at the ready.