I Want My Personal Cloud

Storagezilla got this one going, and it's a thought that's worth exploring.

So much of the cloud discussion is pointed at businesses -- what about us as individuals?

And -- yes -- there's a potential type of cloud that I think we'll all want.

A personal information cloud.

The Backdrop

We're all pretty comfortable using cloud-like services in our personal lives.  Google, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr -- the list goes on and on.

But I'd offer that there's a better potential model out there -- and someone is going to get to it sooner than later.

As a simple example, imagine I have 1,000 personal photographs.  There are a few that I don't mind sharing publicly, others that I want to restrict to different categories of people I know (of course, my relationship with these people change over time), and -- of course -- a few photographs that I really don't want floating around anywhere, period.

What Kind Of Personal Cloud Do I Want?

First, there's the whole "control" thing. 

You see, when I put my stuff out on those sorts of sites, I lose a certain sense of control.  For one thing, none of it is fine-grained enough to suit my tastes.  I'd like the ability to define many more different roles, and grant/revoke privileges with a bit more finesse.

And then there's the trust issue behind their various access controls and privacy policies.  Heck, companies lose my personal information every day.  For me to put my really important stuff out there, I'd want some additional assurances other than a nice privacy policy and some lightweight access controls.

Second, there's the "convenience" thing.

I've got just too many places where I can put my stuff these days.  Frankly, it's a hassle. 

Wouldn't it be great if I could put my online stuff in one place, and I could choose where and how it got syndicated out to other services, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, et. al.? 

And I'd love to share links or tokens rather than the content itself -- or some similar mechanism that gives me a greater degree of control if I need to change or remove something from public view.  Why should copies of my stuff get scattered all over the internet?

Another part of convenience is keeping things organized and find-able.  Some of the tagging should be automatic (I am lazy), but I should be able to extend what it's doing as I feel motivated.  When we're talking 1,000 pictures (or maybe 10,000 songs!), this becomes a bit more important.

I'd have to have the ability to access from any (authenticated) device at any time -- that goes without saying.

And, finally, there's that "permanent archive" thing.

I'd like my stuff to be around a long, long time.  Even if file formats change.  Even if my relationship with my personal cloud vendor changes: out of business, onerous new policies, acquisition, etc. 

No matter what, I want to be able to get to my stuff in some fashion, and retain control.

In the nice-to-have category, I can also think it'd be great to have a bunch of simple web apps for the stuff I do every day -- compose short notes, check calendars, follow various online services -- a small number activities that end up consuming 80% of my time.  Nothing fancy here, please, just the basics.

I'd turn to Google for this stuff, but when I use their service, it's essentially their information, and not mine, and that's not really what I want.  For example, it creeps me out when I get a targeted ad in response to piece of content that I *thought* no one was looking at.

What Do You Think?

What features would you want in your personal information cloud? 

Who's the closest to getting there soon?

I know that when someone finally comes up with a half-decent solution that I can trust, I'm going to be all-in.

How about you?

Comments

[Steve Todd]

Chuck,

I'm using Mozy and it works for my needs. It will be interesting to see if the service evolves to address more of your concerns.

I also recently learned that traditional search techniques (e.g. google) will not be effective for the finding of personal information. Page ranks and keyword tags do not reflect how the human mind works and can make it harder for us to "find our stuff" in a personal information cloud.

EMC Research in China asserts that searching for personal information should be based on an associative memory-based technique. It's a fascinating way to look at cloud-based personal search and I recommend taking a peek at Jidong Chen's lecture on the topic: http://bit.ly/12CDuJ

Steve

[Greg]

You might also check out ZumoDrive for this kind of thing.

[james governor]

good idea or not a great name immediately suggests itself- "pico".

[dyno]

Hi Chuck,
You might want to check out http://www.tonido.com.
It has all the features you are describing here.

[Thomas]

Same thing with Opera Unite. I think this might be interesting for you. http://unite.opera.com/

[Gerald Huff]

Just discovered this post. I had been thinking very much along the same lines. A short paper with my thoughts on the virtual personal cloud is here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/26792111/The-Virtual-Personal-Cloud

[JMR]

I have no use for twitter, facebook etc. I really don't care that you are on your way to the store or that you just won another chicken in farmville. that just tells me you probably need job and I start to question whether i want to be associated with a you.

Anyway,I would personally like to see my personal cloud be comprised of desktops that I could choose like Apple, Windows, Suse, Redhat etc. It would be my desktop with apps that I do own, or be available for lease if I wanted. It would truly be my personal cloud PC that I could access anywhere anytime.

To access it I would go to WWW.MYPCPC.???, login and my Windows 7 (Citrix/VMWare like) Desktop would appear within my browser. If I want more ram or a faster processor, I just go to my settings, make the changes, logoff and back on and now I have 8GB of ram instead of 4. My data would be stored on a rack of servers with insane redundancy and backups. If I need more, I again go into settings and change what I need.

That is my dream, I just wish I could make that happen.