GNU founder Richard Stallman seems to be extremely worried about the rising popularity of "cloud computing". The term made famous by companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon is a method of delivering IT power when you need it, instead of drawing it from a local desktop computer.

According to Stallman, programs like Google's Gmail will eventually force people to buy into locked, proprietary systems, which will cost more in the long run. Stallman, a vociferous free-software campaigner and privacy advocate, advises users to keep their information in their own hands instead of handing them over to a third party. Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, too was heard last week dismissing cloud computing initiatives as "fashion driven" and "complete gibberish".

It is a well-known fact that storing information on Web servers rather than on a local system has become an integral part of our online lives. All our confidential emails, photographs, and other data are stored in servers owned by companies like Google. The eventual fear is a mixture of privacy and ownership issues and loss of control over data - just because it is uploaded on somebody else's web server.

Via: Guardian.co.uk