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Stallman brands cloud computing as 'stupidity'

Mike Ricciuti CNET News

Published: 30 Sep 2008 16:06 BST

Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and creator of the GNU operating system, has said cloud computing is "stupidity" that ultimately will result in vendor lock-in and escalating costs.

"The interesting thing about cloud computing is that we've redefined cloud computing to include everything that we already do," Stallman was quoted as saying in a report by The Guardian on Monday.

Cloud computing, the latest marketing description for a notion put forth by computer-industry companies in recent years, moves most of the computing power — and sometimes data — to servers maintained by companies such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon. A classic example of cloud computing is Gmail, offered by Google.

Stallman said cloud computing forces people to hand over control of their information to a third party. His objections echo his long-standing belief in non-proprietary software.

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"One reason you should not use web applications to do your computing is that you lose control," Stallman said. "It's just as bad as using a proprietary program."

"Do your own computing on your own computer with your copy of a freedom-respecting program. If you use a proprietary program or somebody else's web server, you're defenceless. You're putty in the hands of whoever developed that software," he said.

Stallman dismissed cloud computing as industry bluster. "It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign," he said.

"Somebody is saying this is inevitable and, whenever you hear somebody saying that, it's very likely to be a set of businesses campaigning to make it true," Stallman added.

Credit: Stallman: Cloud computing is 'stupidity' from CNET News