Storing your information in the cloud - it´s coming

There are quite a few of my family, friends and colleagues that think I am mad as a hatter to store all my information (all that becomes electronic at least) in the cloud (i.e., on the Internet).

For instance I am currently uploading to Flickr all of the Yuletide photos and, as they are successfully stored online, I delete the surplus copy stored on my PC. That means there is only one copy of the photo in existence, the one on Flickr.

Scary stuff? Nope.

Yes, it does seem madness to those that aren´t used to living online. However, this is a brave new world and others don´t have the time and energy to explore it like I have. I still love radio and find the world of iPods a mystery, each to their own.

However, the world is going to be forcefully changed for millions when Microsoft start to incorporate storage into the cloud. Don´t believe me, this from Bill Gates (via Rafe Needleman) at the opening of the CES yesterday:

"Masters" of your media files will be stored in the cloud, he said, but personal devices will synch and view them.

And what does that mean for those in such organisations as the Government that are mandated to keep their information within one geographical boundary?

Better start getting used to it people - this commentary, again by Rafe, is something I buy into as well:

What was odd about this talk was what Gates said at the beginning: Broadband is in 250 million households, he said, but, "The trend is clear: the future will be software-driven." Of course, all the cool stuff we saw was software, but for the most part, only the eye candy was running on local devices (games being the exception). The really useful and powerful services were running in the cloud, on servers, not users' PCs.

And it's worth noting that even at the gadget-happy CES show, live Internet technologies are everywhere -- in TVs, GPS receivers, and built into new motherboards -- threatening traditional operating systems and software more every day. I think it's fitting that this year was Gates' last CES keynote. Yes, software is everywhere. But the future, as most real users will understand it, is on the Web.