“Parallels is perhaps best known for its popular desktop virtualization product, Parallels Desktop for Mac, but the larger and faster growing segment within the company actually has to do with building containers in the cloud,” David Marshall reports for InfoWorld.
“While the company continues to innovate Parallels Desktop for Mac with each new release of OS X or Windows — most recently announcing Parallels Desktop for Mac version 9 — unfortunately the Mac market alone is not large enough to sustain the company’s long-term financial growth,” Marshall reports. “Parallels [also has] released Parallels Access for running Windows and Mac apps on an iPad. An interesting new market for Parallels — but again, not large enough to keep Parallels growing.”
“So the company says it has become more focused on making it easier for service providers to grow and profit from the cloud,” Marshall reports. “To capitalize on that growth, Parallels is making use of something called container virtualization technology in the cloud.”
Read more in the full article here.
Parallels is wrong.
Consumers have more computing power on their laps than they have bandwidth to the mother ship.
The real reason every software maker on the planet wants you to “embrace the cloud” is so they can force you into expensive subscription pricing. Refuse, everyone. Refuse these pushers, don’t be another software drug addict.
Yep. For example, Parallels themselves charge $80/yr for Paralleles Access. In by 2213 you’d have paid $800. Per computer.
I agree. When the cloud goes ‘poof’ there goes you data with it. Sold to the highest bidder, along with your privacy.
Man the Enterprise Virtual market is a PITA.
Lots of competition. Unless they are talking about something else.
Cloud storage of data is not the problem. The problem is closing the mental gap between how to effectively use cloud storage. Like they say, the biggest problem with a computer is usually between the keyboard and the screen (in other words, the user). If you sign up for a cloud-based service, then ensure your workflow with them maintains a local copy of your data in your control. Because once you hand over your data, it’s technically no longer yours. (read any TOS document).
Apple is as guilty as any company in dumbing down the end users who buy “cloud” services. Sure, it’s the users’ own fault for accepting services that are primarily just datamining consumer data without detailed user approval, but Apple pushes alongside all the other industry profiteers this model down users’ throats. The average Apple user has no idea what data Apple has of theirs, when Apple takes it, where it is stored, how it is secured, what legal right Apple has to read it, and which 3rd party entities have access to it, and so forth.
But that’s only one facet of tethered mainframe computing. The modern push for “Cloud” computing has negative effects for everyone, even non-users. Internet infrastructure will always be degraded by people streaming files back and forth that they don’t even need to. Many regions have ISPs and mobile providers that are way behind in offering enough bandwidth for decent quality, and here we have software providers attempting to find ways to take more off-line activities online.
Paragraph 2: I totally agree.
As for Apple pulling anything on their users: There is the EULA that very few people read. It’s extremely detailed, that being both a problem and a benefit. The EULA these days for the iTunes Store is enormous! Grannies freak out when they see it and decide not to either blindly accept it or they turn away and don’t bother with the iTunes Store. Etc.
Apple has made its bumbling errors with the cloud, we all know. But I don’t see the company shoving anything down anyone’s throat. The iWork in the cloud apps have been in beta for quite some time while Apple gets a handle on this next level of server-side application services. Apple of course wants to do it better than anyone else.
Meanwhile, I see no reason to believe Apple intentionally has ever fed user data to third party entities. They clearly state that they don’t, unless the user responds to advertising. Then they’ve made their choice. If my information was fed to commercial third parties, I’d know about it.
As for Apple feeding us to the wolves of the NSA ad nauseam, they’ve been very clear that they are against doing so unless the extremely clear legal processes are followed. Otherwise, Apple has questioned any requests for such data and appealed such requests. That is what they have, at least, stated. There are no facts to indicate they have done otherwise.
IOW: Cut the paranoia please. It’s akin to the conspiracy ‘theory’ crap that isn’t theory at all. It’s just paranoia. When we have facts in hand, then we can have what I call ‘justified paranoia.’ Until then, we have more important actual problems to worry about these days, like our thoroughly corrupted political parties, the subsequent government, the self-destructive corporate oligarchy that pulls their strings and further ad nauseam…
If you took a look at your internet traffic, you’d see that Apple uses 3rd parties extensively. As Apple’s privacy policy states, “Apple and our partners also use cookies and other technologies to remember personal information when you use our website, online services, and applications.”
Can you name these 3rd parties, Derek? How secure is your data with them? Do you even know if your data is encrypted when sent to them, how long it is stored by these unnamed parties, or how the end user might get a copy of the data that is taken from him?
It’s not paranoia when you simply have a few reasonable standards when it comes to controlling the files you create, your clients’ records, financial data, etc. You can place all the trust in the world in Apple, but you still can’t answer simple questions about how they store your data. All you have is blind faith in a corporation. Might I remind you that the only purpose of a corporation is to extract the maximum amount of money possible from consumers? Legally, that is exactly what they are bound to do. Not to treat you and your data like it was worth protecting. If Apple was really better than all other “cloud” services, how come their privacy policy is so weak? Hell, Apple’s policy makes it clear they’d not be liable if they took your life’s work and handed it to Vladimir Putin’s hackers.
I understand your points and like that you’re expressing them. No conflict there!
But: “Might I remind you that the only purpose of a corporation is to extract the maximum amount of money possible from consumers?”
That’s not capitalism. That’s parasitism. That’s NOT Apple. I agree that this DESPERATE degradation of capitalism is the current state of decay. But the fact is that Apple does NOT parasitize its customers. It serves its customers. It invites its customers into the creative and perfecting process. Example: Apple has let me be part of the Appleseed program for over a year and a half. When I have time to assist, that means I am contributing to the process.
By no means is Apple perfect. I’d even agree that Apple is a bit naive to let Amazon and Microsoft servers host Apple user data. (Yes, I of course know where Apple stores my data). I’m NOT naive by storing my critical data in a 256 bit encrypted sparse bundle that no one can read but me. It gets sent into the cloud for backup and is random bits to anyone trying to access it. I also use the Backblaze cloud service that features client-size encryption, again locking out everyone but me from reading any of it.
I know what ‘Trust Know One’ (TKO) cloud storage is and I use it. I’ve been following the ‘Security Now’ podcast since the first day it aired. I write about Mac security as a free service to the Mac community. Blahblahblah.
So no, I have never had “blind faith in a corporation”. In this self-destructive biznizz bozo world we’re stuck in right now, I will NEVER have ‘blind faith….” It is obviously REQUIRED that we all protect our rights as humans and citizens, as I frequently state despite vulgar and idiotic flames to the contrary.
Meanwhile: FUD is useless garbage. You yourself are FUD mongering. That makes you just another puppet of the propaganda perpetrators who want us scared 24/7 because they know that is the single easiest way to manipulate us. Lay off the FUD and STICK TO THE FACTS. You’ll end up sane. Get all paranoid and stupid and you end up as road kill beneath the wheels of the self-destructive manipulators who have already wrecked my country.
And so forth. There are whole books on the subject. I think I’ve blethered on enough with my own POV.
The only cloud I want is my own NAS device running and creating my own personal cloud.
Personally, I’m going to set up my own personal web server to keep data that I can access from anywhere with anything at anytime.
okay but no web apps dammit. I HATE WORKING IN WEB BROWSERS! Rant over.