The cloud is a fraud. The promise of the cloud is a lie.A conversation with a cooler-headed friend has made me reconsider those sentences.
In its most abstract essence, the cloud is a technological framework that provides the illusion of infinite storage and computational power. What novel applications the cloud will make possible, I can't currently envision; it's worth noting, though, that there are big problems that only become feasible to tackle by harnessing more computing resources than any single entity on Earth can bring to bear (think SETI, for instance). For mere mortals, the cloud is a place to stow data so it's accessible from anywhere at any time, with the added bonus that others can access it as well if you wish.
Somebody has to pay for the cloud, of course, but there are different ways to do so and nothing in the technology itself dictates how that should happen.
The quoted auto industry pundits unquestioningly opined that the only option for in-car entertainment someday would be cloud-based, and like radio, cloud-based entertainment would be paid for either by subscription or through ads. However, by making it impossible for you to use a personal music device (a CD, tape or iPod, for instance) in your car, such a model would have you paying over and over for the privilege of playing your (now cloud-based) music collection. You know, the collection you bought precisely so you could play it without paying further for the privilege.
That chain of thought was what set me off. However, it has nothing to do with the cloud per se. Rather, it's all about the starry-eyed greed of people whose only vision in life is reaping endless payments for the same material.
The cloud is not a fraud. The promise of the cloud is not a lie.
On the other hand, the goal of the entertainment industry and its enablers, like these auto industry pundits, is both.
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