Forced cloud: Difference between revisions
Created page with "'''Forced cloud''', '''forced internet''', '''forced remote connection''', etc... is a practice in which software or hardware requires a continuous/constant (or, at least, regular) device connection to remote servers owned by the company who made said software/hardware, even when the features technically don't require network connections. Because forced cloud generally means locality is technically possible, entities that engage in this practice have..." |
→Why it is a problem: Limited or non-existent offline functionality |
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'''Forced [[Cloud (service)|cloud]]''', '''forced internet''', '''forced remote connection''', etc... is a practice in which software or hardware requires a continuous/constant (or, at least, regular) device connection to remote servers owned by the company who made said software/hardware, even when the features technically don't require network connections. | '''Forced [[Cloud (service)|cloud]]''', '''forced internet''', '''forced remote connection''', etc... is a practice in which software or hardware requires a continuous/constant (or, at least, regular) device connection to remote servers owned by the company who made said software/hardware, even when the features technically don't require network connections. | ||
Because forced cloud generally means locality is technically possible, entities that engage in this practice have little reason to do so outside of personal gain. They may find it favorable for several reasons, including: | Because forced cloud generally means locality is technically possible, entities that engage in this practice have little reason to do so outside of personal gain. They may find it favorable for several reasons, including: | ||
* Tracking | *Tracking | ||
* [[Remote disabling]] | *[[Remote disabling]] | ||
* Centralization | *Centralization | ||
Forced-cloud is an extreme case of cloud-first architecture, the antithesis of [[wikipedia:Local-first_software|local-first]]. | Forced-cloud is an extreme case of cloud-first architecture, the antithesis of [[wikipedia:Local-first_software|local-first]]. | ||
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Forcing cloud connections implies that the cloud can revoke the user access to their data at any time. | Forcing cloud connections implies that the cloud can revoke the user access to their data at any time. | ||
=== Vendor lock-in === | ===Vendor lock-in=== | ||
{{See also|Data lock-in}} | |||
The user is "chained" to the cloud provider. The provider typically has no incentives to support interoperability, making it harder for the user to migrate. | The user is "chained" to the cloud provider. The provider typically has no incentives to support interoperability, making it harder for the user to migrate. | ||
===Limited or non-existent offline functionality=== | |||
Products or services that depend of cloud services might work partially or might not work at all, making the product or service very limited or unusable if there's not any network connection. | |||
==Examples== | ==Examples== | ||
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*[[YouTube]] (YT) Premium "offline" videos are deleted from the user's local storage, unless there's a regular connection to YT servers | *[[YouTube]] (YT) Premium "offline" videos are deleted from the user's local storage, unless there's a regular connection to YT servers | ||
*[[Amazon]] FireTV refuses to show any apps in the "launcher" (home-screen) unless the user is connected to the internet, preventing the user from accessing their local apps{{Citation needed}} | *[[Amazon]] FireTV refuses to show any apps in the "launcher" (home-screen) unless the user is connected to the internet, preventing the user from accessing their local apps{{Citation needed}} | ||
==References== | |||
{{Reflist}} | |||
[[Category:Common terms]] | |||
[[Category:Theme]] | |||