Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has expressed his concerns about the shift to cloud computing, claiming he is worried about the lack of control people will have over their own data and describing cloud computing as "horrendous."
Wozniak was speaking on stage after a performance of "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," a play by Mike Daisey on working conditions in Apple’s China factories.
According to AFP, he voiced is scepticism over the benefits of could computing. He said the shift to storing more and more documents and data online would create a lot of problems.
"I really worry about everything going to the cloud," he said. "I think it’s going to be horrendous. I think there are going to be a lot of horrible problems in the next five years. With the cloud, you don’t own anything. You already signed it away."
It is that last point that seems to be Wozniak’s primary concern. "I want to feel that I own things," he went on. "A lot of people feel, ‘Oh, everything is really on my computer,’ but I say the more we transfer everything onto the web, onto the cloud, the less we’re going to have control over it."
It seems his fears may not be too misplaced. As demonstrated recently, relying heavily on cloud-based services can have disastrous consequences. Tech journalist Mat Honan’s experience with Apple’s iCloud is a timely reminder that offline storage is just as valuable on cloud-based.
Wozniak founded Apple back in 1976 with the late Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne where he designed and built the Apple I and II computers. He now works as chief scientist of storage firm Fusion-io.
