Right now, it's becoming incredibly expensive to buy your own PC, largely thanks to data centers buying up all the stock of important components.Of course, the companies who are buying up all this computer hardware are perfectly happy to let you use it remotely—for a fee! Having us all use thin clients and paying to subscribe to the processing power we need is a dream come true for big corporations.It takes away our independence, privacy, and control over our hardware.
They've been trying to achieve this via every means possible for years, but now the perfect storm to make it a reality might have arrived.For me, I can't see any sort of future where my primary computer is one I rent from a data center, and I think no one else should do that either.Cloud PCs solve business problems, not personal ones There's an unproven quote attributed to legendary former IBM CEO Thomas J.
Watson that goes, which, although there's no proof he said it, is still pretty relevant to our conversation here.At least in my opinion.It reflects a common early attitude as to why people would want personal computers, because they were seen as machines purely for big businesses, institutions, and other serious operations.
Ironically, IBM would go on to kick off the PC revolution with the IBM PC.I bring this up, because I think that the cloud computing revolution has brought us full circle.Once the world became connected through the internet, it opened up the possibility of going back to centralized resources and control.
Companies don't have to give their customers independence or ownership.It started with subscription services replacing once-off software licenses, and always-online requirements for (apparently) everything, even when it's not strictly needed.Microsoft Windows now offers no way to set up without an online account anymore, and you can even be prompted to create or log in to an account when you open basic apps like Paint.
By and large, renting compute power from the cloud as your main source of hardware access benefits these large businesses far more than it benefits you.You don’t own anything, you just have temporary access Using a cloud service for your computing needs is like taking public transport instead of owning your own car.You are not in control, and you have to put up with any restrictions, policy changes, congestion, or other vagaries of shared resources.
You can lose access at any time with no warning, you don't know whether your information is secure, and you have to worry about internet infrastruture on top of everything else.Contrast that with owning your own local hardware, and things are very different.You control the resource and how it's used.
Yes, having true control of your local PC might now involve ditching operating systems like Windows in favor of open-source alternatives like Linux (and the same goes for software), but the value of that control and access is priceless.Something you might not realize until you've given it up.Related The upgrade argument for desktops doesn't stand up anymore Upgrading isn't all that it's made out to be.
Posts 102 By Sydney Butler Latency and connectivity quietly ruin the experience Not everything we do with our computers requires low latency or real-time interactivity.If you're leaving a render to run or a simulation to play out overnight, it doesn't really matter how many milliseconds of latency your computer interface has.However, much of what we do with our computers depends on a snappy real-time level of responsiveness.
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My experience with cloud-gaming in particular has permanently put me off using a remote computer this way.While it can work well enough from time to time, even a high-end fiber connection doesn't protect you from everyday network issues such as packet loss, congestion, and rerouting around hardware failures out on the net.The economics only work for providers If you only need to rent a powerful PC for a month from the cloud, then it's obviously a smart move to just pay that small fee, do the work, and then move on.
However, if you have to pay an ongoing rental fee in perpetuity for your computer, then it won't be long before you've paid more than it would have cost to own the PC outright.Even worse, the cloud provider is double- and triple-dipping with the hardware.The second you end your session, someone else takes over.
So the PC in the cloud is making them money 24/7, every day of every year.If you bought a machine that meets your needs, you could use it for less money overall, and even get some of that money back when you sell it down the line.It's clear which approach makes the most sense in the medium- to long-term.
And, it's clear that I will always have at least one computer that's all my own, and no one else controls.
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