Meditations on cloud computing
Sep. 14th, 2010 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandrootThe short version: it's all fun and games until somebody loses an archive.
And the problem is that most cloud systems aren't really set up for either user-controlled, external backups or staff-produced restores. Not the free versions.
Example: I have a bunch of Firefox bookmarks I want to have both a) synchronized across my devices and b) available in online form for when I'm using a strange computer or one I don't want to give my settings to. Firefox Sync is a lovely thing, a Mozilla product, being integrated into the core of FF4, no less. But it does not seem to allow online access. Xmarks will both sync and allow online access, but the online access is ugly as sin and can't interpret smart-folders. In addition, Xmarks has some annoying features that don't seem to be turn-off-able, like the rating stars at the bottom of the window. Neither have much provision for backup apart from "the copy on one of the other devices", and you'd better just pray that, in case of data loss, the sync timestamps will cause the cloud server to upload a new copy of all your bookmarks from a device rather than erasing them from every device you have, under the impression that its own bookmark-less state represents your own latest action. You can bet that free software isn't going to come with technical support, in such an event. This horrible possibility is what leads a properly paranoid cloud user to desire a restorable backup external to the cloud, and ideally one that is accessible and usable on its own. That has its own problems, though.
Del.icio.us has evolved to a pretty good bookmarking system, with provisions for import and export and a nice little official plugin that allows you to view and manage your del.icio.us bookmarks rather as if they were browser bookmarks. But the fact is they aren't, there is no synchronization taking place, and if del.icio.us goes down or loses your account, you are screwed--go to limbo, go directly to limbo, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred bookmarks. Import and export also do not preserve the tags you have given your bookmarks on Firefox; instead tags are assigned based on your folder system, and if you are using smart folders too bad. Del.icio.us can't interpret those (so far nothing I've seen can, though at least a synchronizing system will generally transfer them intact). There goes all your metadata and navigation. An export similarly produces new folders based on the tags given in delicious, which can, as you may imagine, be an equal pain in the ass unless you are willing to navigate by un-nested manual folders and manually maintain the same folder-tag names.
Google Bookmarks is currently worthless, as there is no import capacity built into the core. You have to rely on plugins for that, and the most recommended one is no longer supported by Google themselves. Neither is there any option for synchronization. That one needs to cook for longer.
So I am left with either trusting Firefox's native bookmark-restore or making periodic manual backups which are, of necessity, specific to one device and not available online either. Xmarks comes closest to the functionality I want, and even that doesn't really provide for external backups. This seems to me to be a bit of a blind spot in the whole system.
And the problem is that most cloud systems aren't really set up for either user-controlled, external backups or staff-produced restores. Not the free versions.
Example: I have a bunch of Firefox bookmarks I want to have both a) synchronized across my devices and b) available in online form for when I'm using a strange computer or one I don't want to give my settings to. Firefox Sync is a lovely thing, a Mozilla product, being integrated into the core of FF4, no less. But it does not seem to allow online access. Xmarks will both sync and allow online access, but the online access is ugly as sin and can't interpret smart-folders. In addition, Xmarks has some annoying features that don't seem to be turn-off-able, like the rating stars at the bottom of the window. Neither have much provision for backup apart from "the copy on one of the other devices", and you'd better just pray that, in case of data loss, the sync timestamps will cause the cloud server to upload a new copy of all your bookmarks from a device rather than erasing them from every device you have, under the impression that its own bookmark-less state represents your own latest action. You can bet that free software isn't going to come with technical support, in such an event. This horrible possibility is what leads a properly paranoid cloud user to desire a restorable backup external to the cloud, and ideally one that is accessible and usable on its own. That has its own problems, though.
Del.icio.us has evolved to a pretty good bookmarking system, with provisions for import and export and a nice little official plugin that allows you to view and manage your del.icio.us bookmarks rather as if they were browser bookmarks. But the fact is they aren't, there is no synchronization taking place, and if del.icio.us goes down or loses your account, you are screwed--go to limbo, go directly to limbo, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred bookmarks. Import and export also do not preserve the tags you have given your bookmarks on Firefox; instead tags are assigned based on your folder system, and if you are using smart folders too bad. Del.icio.us can't interpret those (so far nothing I've seen can, though at least a synchronizing system will generally transfer them intact). There goes all your metadata and navigation. An export similarly produces new folders based on the tags given in delicious, which can, as you may imagine, be an equal pain in the ass unless you are willing to navigate by un-nested manual folders and manually maintain the same folder-tag names.
Google Bookmarks is currently worthless, as there is no import capacity built into the core. You have to rely on plugins for that, and the most recommended one is no longer supported by Google themselves. Neither is there any option for synchronization. That one needs to cook for longer.
So I am left with either trusting Firefox's native bookmark-restore or making periodic manual backups which are, of necessity, specific to one device and not available online either. Xmarks comes closest to the functionality I want, and even that doesn't really provide for external backups. This seems to me to be a bit of a blind spot in the whole system.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-15 09:38 pm (UTC)I do know that Xmarks gives you a big 'are you really damn sure?' pop up when it goes to sync and realises that your present bookmark set is significantly smaller than it was expecting, if that was at all reassuring?
no subject
Date: 2010-09-15 09:52 pm (UTC)I'll look into that dropbox thing, though. That would be helpful. And I could, at least, get that /week's/ bookmarks from Time Machine if I had to.
Hola
Date: 2010-09-20 01:32 am (UTC)I just wanted to drop in and say that I'm a big fan of your essays on anime/manga -- I think I stumbled across your analytic site a few years ago, and I absolutely loved your treatment of Bebop. Even the layout of the page devoted to that particular series looked like care and thought had been put into it. It's really rare for me to see such skilful and interesting analysis within the realm of anime and manga, and it's something I've always tried to do myself, here and there. (I'm a fellow Lit Grad, but nowhere near as good.) I remembered that you moved to this place, so seeing as I recently registered here I thought I'd finally drop by and give my appreciation for your work. I hope you keep writing pieces like that, and that you update that site soon, as I'd be interested to read your thoughts on more series'.
Re: Hola
Date: 2010-09-20 01:38 am (UTC)And, of course: Welcome to Dreamwidth!