OnLive being shuttered?

[onlysublime]

cloud computing totally has its place. having your data with you wherever you go is a powerful thing. heck, email is a spiritual predecessor to cloud computing.

 

it's just that we don't have an Internet that's ready for gaming.

[godslabrat]

I don't have any problem with Cloud Computing by itself. What I object to is this idea that anything else is old hat and should be done away with. Cloud computing should be a backup option, never the only tool in our toolbox.

[Protoplasym]

cloud computing totally has its place. having your data with you wherever you go is a powerful thing. heck, email is a spiritual predecessor to cloud computing.

 

it's just that we don't have an Internet that's ready for gaming.

 

It does not. Past Email, there is zero reason to store my information on someone elses server, and allow them to "not take responsibility" for my information. No thanks.... I am counting the days until Businesses lose their secrets along with God knows what else due to espionage. And for gamers (myself included, Hi PSN and XboxLive - for the few exclusives I couldn't find in a physical format) who are supporting DL only 'licensed' games, yup... eventually said company will go out of business, and the gamer will have nothing to show for it. I still haven't figured out how I'm supposed to properly back up all of my DL purchased games... without having to rely on the companies I bought the games from.

 

 

Physical is King, and my Data is my Data.

[Keatah]

I generally don't have trouble with the idea of cloud computing. No.. It's the idea that everything, according to corporations, should go on the cloud. That's what bothers me; and for a number of reasons.

 

Services come and go, and make needless changes just to make changes for changes sake. I don't like that. Any of that. And another thing that pisses me off is the online help files. Why must a program have to connect to a network to read a .htm, .pdf, .chm, or .txt file? Can't that be done locally? Why the change and why the push? When I asked some software companies why they did that they said it was the next big thing, or easier to update, but most of all, it shrunk the size of the redistributable! Bullshit! Even the most complex .chm file compresses nicely into the installer.

 

You know, there have been times when I totally removed a program (or refused to update) because the sole change was complexifying the help system by making it connect to a network.

 

But in the end I don't give a rat's ass about cloud computing, it's a business buzzword, a fad, and as long as everything is locally stored you're golden.

Edited August 23, 2012 by Keatah

[Keatah]

This is also one of the reasons I've not delved into modern gaming as much.. Too much "required" online nonsense. I guess I'm happier playing a self-contained 2k ROM like Air-Sea Battle or Slot Racers..

[Reaperman]

I'm not sure why we're fighting the cloud here.

 

locally run custom apps became webapps,

then the servers they were on became virtualized,

cloud services are the next logical step.

 

Where's your medical record stored? Mine's in cloud services. Yours probably is too.

Hospital/clinic system gets it's five-9 uptime, availability to all branches, meets all legal requirements, and doesn't have to maintain the infrastructure that does it.

I'm hearing a bit of "kids, get off my lawn" here.

Edited August 23, 2012 by Reaperman

[svenski]

Looks like they'll keep going for a bit but BT and HTC have lost a nice bit of money now their invesments have been wiped.

 

I don't mind streaming, steam, the cloud etc, heck I'd hate being offline for more than a day or two but then I also hate being forced to be online just to load up a game. If I want to use steam then great but buy a game on disc, install it and then find out you have to go online to update it, register it and then play it... well, that sucks donkey balls.

[Hyper_Eye]

cloud computing totally has its place. having your data with you wherever you go is a powerful thing. heck, email is a spiritual predecessor to cloud computing.

 

it's just that we don't have an Internet that's ready for gaming.

 

It does not. Past Email, there is zero reason to store my information on someone elses server, and allow them to "not take responsibility" for my information. No thanks.... I am counting the days until Businesses lose their secrets along with God knows what else due to espionage. And for gamers (myself included, Hi PSN and XboxLive - for the few exclusives I couldn't find in a physical format) who are supporting DL only 'licensed' games, yup... eventually said company will go out of business, and the gamer will have nothing to show for it. I still haven't figured out how I'm supposed to properly back up all of my DL purchased games... without having to rely on the companies I bought the games from.

 

 

Physical is King, and my Data is my Data.

 

I guess it depends on what you are putting up there. I don't store my personal files "in the cloud" but I do like being able to back my Xbox 360 saves up to the cloud storage. I don't see what argument can be made against the utility of that. None of that stuff is personal and I am not relying strictly on them to keep my save files intact (though you can save directly to it.) If I have a drive failure, want to load a game in another room or at another house, or I want to transfer saves to a new Xbox all I have to do is log into my account and go to my cloud storage. It is much more likely that my storage is going to fail than it is that theirs will.

[Keatah]

Corporations have a vested interest in medical records. This involves profit. Therefore they will safeguard them as best as possible.

 

Corporations do not have a vested interest in your latest photo of the dog's graduation from obedience school. Therefore your data is at risk of being lost.

[onlysublime]

Physical is King, and my Data is my Data.

 

And I'm sure you keep all your cash underneath your mattress rather than in a bank account on some computer server digitally?

 

It's like you fell out of the 1950 sky.

[onlysublime]

I generally don't have trouble with the idea of cloud computing. No.. It's the idea that everything, according to corporations, should go on the cloud. That's what bothers me; and for a number of reasons.

 

Services come and go, and make needless changes just to make changes for changes sake. I don't like that. Any of that. And another thing that pisses me off is the online help files. Why must a program have to connect to a network to read a .htm, .pdf, .chm, or .txt file?

 

Microsoft would love and prefer you to buy Microsoft Office. However, because of the explosion in popularity of cloud computing via Google Docs or Open Office or WordPerfect, even Microsoft had to bend and is now offering Office 365. It's called evolution. A lot of people don't want to spend $100+ on MS Office and to get a much cheaper cloud version makes a lot of people happy.

[Austin]

I appreciate the option of the cloud, even when it comes to gaming. At this point in history, people still have a choice, and I see that as a good thing. Anyone that gets snarky because someone else finds use in this for one reason or another, probably needs to take a breather and re-evaulate their perspective on things, heh.

[Reaperman]

Corporations have a vested interest in medical records. This involves profit. Therefore they will safeguard them as best as possible.

 

Corporations do not have a vested interest in your latest photo of the dog's graduation from obedience school. Therefore your data is at risk of being lost.

That's not so much a cloud problem as a pricepoint issue. Cloud computing is popular largely because of what it does at the enterprise level. It's all about the SLAs, and you do get what you pay for. Consumer-level cloud services generally aren't going to promise you the five 9's and 30-minute restore guarantees for $10/month. Chuck half of what a small datacenter costs per month into cloud services and it's a different world.

 

Onlive wasn't exactly setting the uptime bar very high, even for consumer services, but heck they were free(mium).

Edited August 24, 2012 by Reaperman

[Protoplasym]

Any service that says, "Pay me to store your data, and to backup your data.... with no promise or guarantee that said data will in any way now or in the future, be secure in any capacity. Also, we might claim rights to some or all of your data if we see fit for any number of reasons. These policies can change at any time with or without notification to you, the customer."

 

^ ain't gettin my mula or my support

 

 

I'll take care of my own business when and where I can have full control, thank you very much.

 

 

Same thing with regard to social networking services, "We retain the right to assert ownership of any data you upload to our networks. This includes pictures, music, and any written information. Your acceptance of this EULA is an agreement on your part to our demands."

 

 

 

Yeah... I'll stay in the "50s" where it's safe.

[Austin]

Any service that says, "Pay me to store your data, and to backup your data.... with no promise or guarantee that said data will in any way now or in the future, be secure in any capacity. Also, we might claim rights to some or all of your data if we see fit for any number of reasons. These policies can change at any time with or without notification to you, the customer."

 

^ ain't gettin my mula or my support

 

If you are paying, you are doing it wrong.

[Protoplasym]

Any service that says, "Pay me to store your data, and to backup your data.... with no promise or guarantee that said data will in any way now or in the future, be secure in any capacity. Also, we might claim rights to some or all of your data if we see fit for any number of reasons. These policies can change at any time with or without notification to you, the customer."

 

^ ain't gettin my mula or my support

 

If you are paying, you are doing it wrong.

 

I don't use Cloud Services. If you aren't paying, you're the product, fyi... Austin

[Austin]

I don't use Cloud Services. If you aren't paying, you're the product, fyi... Austin

 

And I should care because....?

[Mord]

I don't use Cloud Services. If you aren't paying, you're the product, fyi... Austin

 

And I should care because....?

 

He didn't say you should care. He's explaining why he cared.

[Protoplasym]

I don't use Cloud Services. If you aren't paying, you're the product, fyi... Austin

 

And I should care because....?

 

He didn't say you should care. He's explaining why he cared.

 

Yup, thank you Mord for spelling it out for mr. Austin.

[Austin]

I don't use Cloud Services. If you aren't paying, you're the product, fyi... Austin

 

And I should care because....?

 

He didn't say you should care. He's explaining why he cared.

 

Yup, thank you Mord for spelling it out for mr. Austin.

 

Meh, whatever. Even if they are making money off of me while I use their services and it's not a hindrance to my productivity, I'm grateful to have such services that make doing certain things far more conveniently than before.

 

However, in the case of OnLive though, my "You're doing it wrong" statement still stands. I've received a plethora of free games, and not just indie-oriented stuff. Ad-free, of course. Then again, maybe that's why the company is financially straining. Too many people like myself not finding enough value in what's normally offered and are only waiting around for the freebies.

[Protoplasym]

I don't use Cloud Services. If you aren't paying, you're the product, fyi... Austin

 

And I should care because....?

 

He didn't say you should care. He's explaining why he cared.

 

Yup, thank you Mord for spelling it out for mr. Austin.

 

Meh, whatever. Even if they are making money off of me while I use their services and it's not a hindrance to my productivity, I'm grateful to have such services that make doing certain things far more conveniently than before.

 

However, in the case of OnLive though, my "You're doing it wrong" statement still stands. I've received a plethora of free games, and not just indie-oriented stuff. Ad-free, of course. Then again, maybe that's why the company is financially straining. Too many people like myself not finding enough value in what's normally offered and only waiting around for the freebies.

 

It's not just that, for your own good, you should be mindful of what information you give to these companies. Todays EULAs are becoming more invasive and power grabbing than ever before... in the case of Cloud Backup Services, most of these Agreements state that the company backing up your info, has a right to do 'whatever they please' with said info... what all that entails is anyones guess. When a company says outright, "back your stuff up with us, we reserve the right to claim ownership on anything/everything you upload to our servers, and we are not responsible if your information is lost/stolen/or copied due to our negligence", that's where I draw the line.

 

It's the same with these Gaming agreements, "You have paid for a license to use said software. If we go belly up, we hold no promise to you that you will be able to play the game now, or in the future. We will keep your money, we are not responsible for what happens to your personal information (we can sell it if we choose), and there is zero legal recourse for you"

 

It' all sounds soooo sensational... but sadly, it's true.

 

 

nail meet head - agreed

[Austin]

I completely understand that. Trust me when I say, I don't trust them either. I don't put critical information in anyone else's hands other than my own, and use multiple traditional backup methods for the important stuff. However, for basic things like grocery lists, "want" lists for games, quick notes here and there, etc.--the "cloud" (or general web storage) can be a great a great convenience--a tool for the modern age. Hell, I even use the blog here at AtariAge to jot down notes, and save them as drafts just so I can access them from other computers (like at work). But again, I agree that no one should put an extraordinary amount of faith in backup or storage services that are completely out of their control, for privacy reasons, and others. The prime example: you never know when they will be shut down, and your critical files are flushed down the drain (example: MegaUpload).

 

 

*edit:

 

For the gaming sites, I see it a little bit differently though. The main goal of them is to provide me entertainment. I weigh the fact that they might not be available to me one day into the price of what I am paying. But, on the flipside, I never pay full price for said titles (well, unless it's Torchlight II, hehe.. but that's considerably cheaper than a big-budget title). I pay for the convenience, and the amount of entertainment I am likely to get for the title. I have a nice stash of titles on Steam, but if all of my purchases are averaged out, I paid somewhere around $2 a pop. If Steam goes down, well, it will be sorry to see it all go, but they have served their purpose. I paid for my entertainment, and I got it (and will continue to get it until that day comes). I also agree it's important to be aware of what's in EULA's. But--while it never should have gotten to this point to begin with--I basically have to now accept it as another precaution as an educated buyer. Example: "Wow, this game has a shitty EULA.. They want me to be online at all times.. Say I can't join a Class Action lawsuit.. Have to give them my personal info.. and have to let them monitor what websites I visit? Yeah.. I think I will pass."

Edited August 29, 2012 by Austin

[Protoplasym]

I completely understand that. Trust me when I say, I don't trust them either. I don't put critical information in anyone else's hands other than my own, and use multiple traditional backup methods for the important stuff. However, for basic things like grocery lists, "want" lists for games, quick notes here and there, etc.--the "cloud" (or general web storage) can be a great a great convenience--a tool for the modern age. Hell, I even use the blog here at AtariAge to jot down notes, and save them as drafts just so I can access them from other computers (like at work). But again, I agree that no one should put an extraordinary amount of faith in backup or storage services that are completely out of their control, for privacy reasons, and others. The prime example: you never know when they will be shut down, and your critical files are flushed down the drain (example: MegaUpload).

 

 

*edit:

 

For the gaming sites, I see it a little bit differently though. The main goal of them is to provide me entertainment. I weigh the fact that they might not be available to me one day into the price of what I am paying. But, on the flipside, I never pay full price for said titles (well, unless it's Torchlight II, hehe.. but that's considerably cheaper than a big-budget title). I pay for the convenience, and the amount of entertainment I am likely to get for the title. I have a nice stash of titles on Steam, but if all of my purchases are averaged out, I paid somewhere around $2 a pop. If Steam goes down, well, it will be sorry to see it all go, but they have served their purpose. I paid for my entertainment, and I got it (and will continue to get it until that day comes). I also agree it's important to be aware of what's in EULA's. But--while it never should have gotten to this point to begin with--I basically have to now accept it as another precaution as an educated buyer. Example: "Wow, this game has a shitty EULA.. They want me to be online at all times.. Say I can't join a Class Action lawsuit.. Have to give them my personal info.. and have to let them monitor what websites I visit? Yeah.. I think I will pass."

 

Fair enough, you're on the ball for sure... right on

[Keatah]

They (who?) are monitoring your surfing habits? Some sort of online locker/backup doing this?

[Video]

They (who?) are monitoring your surfing habits? Some sort of online locker/backup doing this?

Uh...Pretty much anything you download for "free" (such as angry birds on your phone) will keep track of places you go (online, or physical) and they sell the data to people who use that to do things like determine where they put their adds and such as that. And many of those "free" services don't bother even saying they do it.

 

In my case, I typically stay away from online stuff altogether, but if it's something I want, I'll get it and then take the spyware crap off of it.