My typical opinion of Stallman is that his ideas have a lot of merit, but ultimately I think he is missing components to his analysis and thus his doom and gloom is often unwarranted. If I am saying someone's doom and gloom is unwarranted, you know they are a pretty big downer. :)

Two things Stallman is not considering: (1) data portability, or the ability to download the stuff that is in the cloud (i.e. downloading your email to your local computer); and (2) the fact that open source and cloud computing are not necessarily enemies -- you can have both. "Distributed cores," as Kevin Kelly has called it; a central database creates the cloud, but the results of the cloud are shared amongst its individual nodes. The key issue is governance; the nodes that make up the cloud must be able to have a say in what the centralized cloud can and cannot do, and how data portability must be maintained in all of this.

Sorry for the super geeky post, but this issue is critical, and important issues are rarely addressed by the technology blogosphere -- a cowardly bunch that worships big government and talks about investing in electronic hamburgers and poking each other on Facebook rather than anything meaningful. The good news is that as the economy collapses, the party will come to an end; no more denying reality. In fact, we can use that as a proxy to gauge how much further the collapse has to go: the collapse will reach its bottom when the people are ready to embrace the Truth. Clearly, we still have quite a ways to go (but progress is being made, which we should view positively). -- KM


Bobbie Johnson / Guardian:
Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman — Web-based programs like Google's Gmail will force people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that will cost more and more over time, according to the free software campaigner — The concept of using web-based programs …



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