{"id":3027,"date":"2014-09-27T18:23:28","date_gmt":"2014-09-28T02:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/?p=3027"},"modified":"2025-08-18T13:02:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T20:02:26","slug":"forecast-cloudy-with-0-chance-of-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/2014\/09\/forecast-cloudy-with-0-chance-of-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Forecast: cloudy, with 0% chance of privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently acquired a MacBook Air, running 10.9 (Mavericks), because my old MacBook (running 10.6 Snow Leopard) was struggling with ordinary tasks. (I think I skipped the leonine versions, 10.8 Mountain Lion and 10.7 Lion).<\/span><\/p>\n

After clicking on all the “skip” boxes to prevent linking the new laptop with my Apple ID, I proceeded to add it to my household network, which is wired. It allowed me to access my local hard drives and my desktop Mac. But it will not let me print unless I add the IP address of my locally networked printer to iCloud. Um, no thanks. I guess I’ll walk that flash drive across the room.<\/p>\n

I tried using TextEdit, and my new laptop warned me it could not save back to the networked computer. I also noticed there was no \u201cSave As\u201d command at all. It took much searching to find out I now have to press Command, as if \u201cSave As\u201d is an unusual thing to do.<\/p>\n

It became apparent that Apple wants me to use iCloud. For everything.<\/p>\n

\"cloud1941\"
Russell Lee, Highway scene, Idaho County, Idaho,
July 1941, from Photogrammar<\/a><\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And so the fog rolled in. I could not install my version of Microsoft Office from my old computer. Or my old versions of anything else. This is the first Mac not to let me drag, drop and use those wonderful old apps that always worked – GraphicConverter, VisualHub, iMovieHD, etc. – regardless of felinity.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve continued to work with this sleek sans-CD-drive lightweight little miracle, it\u2019s become clear to me what\u2019s going on. There is pressure on my workflow to rise upward and become cloud-like. And it isn\u2019t just an Apple thing. Microsoft is doing the same with its Live stuff – my college\u2019s email is in the cloud now. I can\u2019t buy a boxed version of Office, or Dreamweaver, for the new laptop. Googly Chromebook wants to always be cloudy – it takes special apps to work offline.<\/p>\n

I think it’s clear (or rather, foggy) that future consumer computer systems will consist of only a few components: the Processing Unit, an input device (gestural or mouse-like or keyboard-ish) and a networked printer. There will be no wires (only power cords) and no ports on the PU (I don\u2019t say CPU because it won\u2019t be central to anything – it will be a screen with a motherboard).<\/p>\n

All your work will be saved to the cloud. All communication with your printer and phone and other devices will be done in the cloud or by Bluetooth-like wireless communication. Your USB hubs and LaCie drives will end up in the garage with the SCSI peripherals and floppies. There will be no need for local files or storage, except for temporary files waiting for the wireless connection to come back on because service was disrupted (kind of like battery backup). There will be no on\/off button for the wireless on any device – printer, modem, and PU will all have wireless connections that are always on.<\/p>\n

All your family photos will be uploaded into the cloud, conveniently sorted with facial recognition. Your banking transactions will float above the neighborhood with those of everyone who lives near you. Sex chats and Snapchats will drift in the air like confetti. If you are a scientist or someone working on something that needs to remain secret until it\u2019s published, you will find it challenging to keep updating your passwords and praying that cloud services won\u2019t have a security breach like Target or Home Depot.<\/p>\n

I, for one, do not welcome our wireless, cloud-based overlords. If I want a machine to which I can privately save my work, neither the hardware nor software will be there to support me. All my recent advice<\/a> about saving a copy of your stuff is about to become impossible to follow.<\/p>\n

I will be very glad of one thing – my manual typewriter. It may be the only way to ensure privacy, and bring in a little sunshine, five years from now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently acquired a MacBook Air, running 10.9 (Mavericks), because my old MacBook (running 10.6 Snow Leopard) was struggling with ordinary tasks. (I think I skipped the leonine versions, 10.8 Mountain Lion and 10.7 Lion). After clicking on all the “skip” boxes to prevent linking the new laptop with my Apple ID, I proceeded to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-online-teaching","category-educational-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9858,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3027\/revisions\/9858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}