
My New Setup  - cwan
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/05/my-new-setup.html
======
jasonmcalacanis
I'm actually thinking of taking my stuff off the open internet and setting up
my own email server in my, gulp, house.

GMAIL, Facebook, Twitter and Lastpass have all had serious hacks in the past
couple of years. I think the in vogue status symbol in the next couple of
years will be to create your own cloud service in your closet and back it up
to the cloud encrypted.

There might be a cool startup there: home cloud systems that leverage
redundant broadband connections (dsl + cable + fios) in your home that are
harder to hack. They would be harder to hack because they are not part of the
tareted BigCos right?

anyway, just an idea... "google docs server for home"

~~~
pjhyett
I have this discussion fairly often as a founder of GitHub with folks that
don't trust 3rd parties, but I think it's unwise to assume you're more
prepared to defend against attacks than cloud providers that employ people to
worry about it constantly. Reducing your exposure by bringing those services
to your home isn't a sufficient security measure.

~~~
statictype
True. But a simple server in a closet hosting only your data is less likely to
get the attention of a determined attacker. I guess the argument is similar to
the Windows vs Mac security argument in that one may be more secure but the
other may be safer for most people because of the incentives and economics at
play.

~~~
mikepurvis
If the setup becomes standardized, though, bots will roam the net attacking
the setup rather than you personally. It'll be like running your own
Wordpress.

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fingerprinter
I have been doing the same thing for some time, and I don't understand why
people will pay the Apple premium if you buy into the cloud concept. It simply
makes no sense.

I've got myself, my wife, my mother, step-father and sister all running Ubuntu
11.04 on rather cheap (as in price) but still good Lenovo hardware. Everything
just works (and well) and since Chrome runs great on Linux, they have the
exact setup in the article and they have near zero need for anything more. I
don't get paying 10-20% more for shiny.

Anyway, that point aside, I absolutely love the setup. As I've said, I pretty
much run this myself. My local file system is actually a huge Ubuntu One disk
(cheaper than dropbox plus I get music streaming to my Android phone) so I
don't even worry about backups (even so, I still have backups....call me old
fashioned) and all my code is in github or bitbucket (depending on project).
It has really been working quite well for me for about 1.5 years or so.

The big thing I noticed when setting up non-technical family members (all
those listed above are teachers, FYI) is that you just have to create some
bookmarks to Google docs and the like, and maybe create a desktop shortcut to
them. I take my workflow for granted sometimes, and I've realized they are
used to clicking on something to open it so creating a bookmark in the toolbar
or a shortcut on the desktop makes it feel like an app to them. Other than
that, no real adjustment.

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bcl
And when one of those hosted services goes down, just as you are trying to
generate the shiny new presentation for the new investors...

Access is nice. But putting all your eggs into the cloud isn't a good idea.
And how the heck are you ever going to run grep on your google docs?

~~~
roadnottaken
How the heck do you run grep on your Word docs?

~~~
mrud
You canuse, at least for older versions, catdoc.

~~~
jamesbritt
Aren't newer Word docs (.docx) files just zipped XML files?

If grepping were a common enough need you could write a tool to unzip to tmp,
grep, report locations. Or something. In any event having a local file opens
up some options the cloud doesn't.

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k7d
Still practically none of (web) cloud apps have the level of usability
available in desktop apps. Even though HTML has come a long way, I doubt it
will ever catch up. Imho the next trend will be native apps with integrated
interfaces to cloud services. These kind of applications have existed for a
long time, but they were not widespread. Now however with the advent of app
stores it's becoming mainstream. Pretty much every serious cloud service
already has a native mobile application. Why not do the same for the desktop?

~~~
jstewart
A hell of a lot of business processes are built on esoteric (and _localized_ ,
as in a script sitting on a computer in the office) Excel and Access
functionality - the Western Australian mining industry being a prime example.

This whole "let's move everything to the cloud" movement seems primarily to be
driven by people who don't have a lot of work to do on computers besides
browse websites, email, and write blog posts. They may do a lot of other work,
but their computer use is fairly limited to a few tasks.

Meanwhile, business users are only going to make the jump when the multi-
billion dollar companies that employ them feel comfortable having confidential
information stored on a server in some other random country (i.e. probably not
in my lifetime).

That's the problem Google and the other "cloud" providers have to overcome
before they can claim victory - not some minimal use case like this.

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code_duck
It sounds like mainly he's saying he is done with Windows and MS Office.
Definitely the trend these days, and it's good to see someone who is tech
savvy but not a techie going down that path. A MacBook Pro and an iMac are
still traditional 'desktop' devices, though. I guess the key is that he's
ditching the desktop software stack in favor of the new mobile era style
software and cloud storage.

Myself, I moved all my vital email, coding, and business administration from a
desktop box with Linux to an Android phone and an MBP on the last trip I took.
When I came back, I didn't bother switching back. however, I'm not ready to
abandon the safety of my own hard drive.

~~~
sixtofour
"Myself, I moved all my vital email, coding, and business administration from
a desktop box with Linux to an Android phone and an MBP on the last trip I
took."

Your phone and laptop can be confiscated for any or no reason if you cross the
US Border inbound. If you travel internationally, be sure to be non-
controversial.

~~~
code_duck
Ah, life in the US - really, the FBI could kick down my door and take all my
computing equipment for any or no reason at any time. Grumbling about Twitter
or Amazon is about as controversial as I get, though. Is it better to have
your data stored in 'the cloud'? Not really. It's vital have encrypted backups
here and there one way or the other.

~~~
sixtofour
The door kicking and the border scenario are different. With the door kicking
you had to first be noticed by the FBI, but with the border crossing you're
placing yourself under the gov's arbitrary notice. Both scenarios are
unlikely. Unless you're controversial, or you happen to get a border guard on
your or their bad day.

~~~
code_duck
I know police have been looking through mobile phones at traffic stops for a
few years at least, too, and now some even have device which will copy the
entire contents of the phone for later analysis. Traffic stops can be pretty
casual.

I'm wondering, though, are you saying I should be concerned about losing the
hardware or the data in particular? You mean, store everything in the cloud so
access to my hardware doesn't automatically mean access to my data? How about
TrueCrypt or Apple's encrypted home partition option?

~~~
sixtofour
I'm saying don't have your phone or other device be your only repository of
important data when you cross a border. I'm not even talking about privacy,
just access to your own data.

~~~
code_duck
Definitely. An even more likely scenario for someone as fritter-headed as I
can be is that I'll leave it at a coffee shop or hotel, no outside malice
required! Definitely a big concern for mobile devices, and I've been thinking
lately about how crucial this makes my MBP. It's definitely not as safe as the
system at my house.

What I used to do is have everything on my home system, then connect to it
through VNC or NX from the road. It's great when there's a fast connection
available, but too frequently VNC is unusable due to unreliable internet
connections. I'll get this network thing figured out some day.

------
ygreek
In other news: RIAA Wants To Start Peeking Into Files You Store In The Cloud
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2570538>

Considering those trends I would not want to store any unencrypted data in the
cloud.

~~~
sixtofour
Yes, those clouds are increasingly becoming "one stop shopping" for criminals,
thugs and government.

Epsilon and Sony are just two, recent examples. The TJ Max incident a few
years ago. Etc.

The "cloud" is useful, except there isn't actually "a" cloud, there are just
individual businesses inviting you into their capacious silos. It's lock-in
with more risk.

"The cloud" needs a lot more work before we can call it "the" cloud, and
before we can call it safe.

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hexis
If you don't have a backup of your data that is in your physical control, then
you are at risk. It doesn't matter if you're using "the cloud". By all means,
use "the cloud" if you like. But keep a copy of your own data in case the
service you're using stops working the way you'd like it to or loses your data
entirely.

~~~
bluehavana
That backup is probably at more risk than what is in the cloud. Think about
how many more people they have working on keeping that data safe and
accessible.

~~~
shadowfox
I hope there are explicit guarantees for this. Otherwise I am not sure I had
trust all my data to the benevolence of an an external entity.

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iamelgringo
Being on the cloud can be really really nice, but does Charles realize that
what he just did was give employees at Google a free look at _every thing the
Union Square Ventures does.

They now have access to your financials, your location, your search, your
email. You've handed the most amazing trove of your business's intelligence
over to Google to manage and handle for you.

Generally I trust Google. But, when a company has a fiduciary duty to maximize
shareholder value, and more and more corporations start switching over to a
Google Apps platform over the next decade. I'd be suprised if Google didn't
start to use that huge trove of business intelligence to it's financial
advantage.

If Google acquires a company that's in Union Square's portfolio, wouldn't it
be silly _not_ to look at what's been going on in Charles River's Google Apps
account regarding that company?

~~~
qeorge
This is Fred Wilson / Union Square Ventures, not Charles River, but your point
stands.

That said, I don't agree. Sure its possible, but Google is going to jeopardize
its entire business to see what Fred Wilson is emailing his partners? Yeah
right.

~~~
jfm3
They don't have to read his email, just analyze it algorithmicly. They already
generate some kind of index of how many times each interesting word is used,
otherwise they couldn't provide ads or fast searching. They only have to view
that index as a histogram to reveal all kinds of interesting stuff about
Fred's business -- information that he gets an advantage from keeping private.

------
idm
I have been pursuing a similar setup, but one of the last sticking points for
me has been the absence of a VPN I could use on the road. I finally ended up
with a satisfying solution based on openswan:

<https://github.com/iandennismiller/swandive>

This is a VPN that installs to Amazon EC2, but could trivially install on any
other VPS provider (or even at home). The reason I targeted EC2 is because it
is the most difficult to work with (due to IP traffic restrictions). However,
EC2 also provides a mechanism for dynamically binding IP addresses to your
instance, meaning it is easy for your VPN to hop around.

The major advance of swandive is that it is compatible, out of the box, with
every device out there. It doesn't require you to root your Android device, it
Just Works with iOS, there is no client to install for it to work on OS X or
Windows. Install Swandive, connect, then destroy your VPS when you're done.
Disposable and Universal.

------
mark_l_watson
Except for programming artifacts and tools, and my Latex setup for serious
writing projects, I have done the same sort of thing: use Google docs, GMail,
Amazon Music Cloud, and pictures on Picaso and Flickr.

I do back up my stuff that is 'on the cloud' but that is quick & easy and I
only do it occasionally.

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IvarTJ
As someone who has spent a lot of time on laptops the past years, I consider
getting a desktop because of the ergonomic qualities. I find it delightful
whenever I get to type on a full-sized desktop keyboard these days. I might
even try one of the ergonomic keyboards.

~~~
krakensden
Get something with Cherry keys- it makes typing feel like you're caressing the
keyboard.

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willyt
I really want to be able to share an address book (that can be synced) between
everyone on their macs and phones. We operate out of quite a remote location
so web interfaces often aren't usable because they are too slow on a mobile
data connection. I just want everyone to be maintaining one list of contacts.
Have I got this wrong or are the only options cardDav on hosted Zimbra or
hosted exchange? The latter seems expensive and people say is unreliable when
hosted. I could self host snow leopard server or some custom carddav setup,
but I can't be bothered...

~~~
qb
Try <http://www.soocial.com/>.

~~~
spif
Actually we are working right now on exactly the above described use case. Let
us know if you want a private beta code to help test it (it's in currently in
alpha). Email my username @ company name.

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morganf
Interesting. I'm living in Argentina - where the Internet connectivity is
particularly slow. Therefore, my preferred setup is: everything local but
backed up near-instantaneously onto the cloud. (I heart Dropbox.) Does anyone
else have this problem? Are there other Dropbox-like cloud services to use for
those of us with slow Internet?

~~~
jorangreef
I'm in South Africa, and have 10mbps but the latency to the States is about
270ms. It may be an advantage when developing though, because it keeps latency
front and center. I'm working on a multi-player organizer that keeps
everything local and syncs asynchronously with the server. You can use it for
email and documents. Ready soon at <https://ronomon.com>.

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markbao
Was anyone as annoyed with the inconsistent capitalization in the article as I
was? I'm usually not one to criticize grammar, but it made the article
incredibly annoying to read.

