Improbable Insights

Sometimes revolutions happen in small steps. As more people discover uses for the public cloud, those use cases are steadily redefining the computing landscape. What are some of the long-term implications of the public cloud? Mozilla hardware chief David Bryant and I discuss the public cloud and its impact on the computing landscape. Meaning Dropbox, OneDrive, and similar cloud storage systems gradually convinced users that cloud storage could be almost as seamless as local storage. The operative word is "almost". David suggests cloud storage needs to be standardized and incorporated into the OS to be truly universal. What's the long-term implication of reliable cloud storage (which also assumes a reliable broadband infrastructure)? Will we no longer need high capacity local storage? What about cloud computing assist? These may have impacts outside of end-user compute tasks. For example, offloading compute to cloud services may reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions. As users become comfortable with softwa