Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand. (do you use gmail?)

I like "the cloud" :

1. I can access my stuff from anywhere on any device
2. I don’t have to think about backups (and even can signup with cloud backup)
3.  I don’t have to develop and maintain these apps myself, some other folks will add new functionality

However… I am already beginning to feel disadvantages:

1. The more stuff I signup with (flickr, family+friends, dropbox, etc…) the more I monthly pay altogether for this stuff (awaiting monthly subscriptions for the free services like webmail) (and including my donations)
2. the more I "outsource" (other than me improving and maintain the software / hardware) the more I loose control on security and privacy but also functionality improvement I want.

So… this will probably drive me (and a lot of people like me) to a point where running your own server is cost-technically still the most interesting. It means work each month to maintain the os, (open source) apps and possibly write my own stuff but it will save me money in the end. Then again it will probably only be for the few lucky ones who can secure a linux environment, do server optimization and are in general technically somewhat more able because else the time invested in learning how to do "all of this" is not worth the effort.

And… to even bring these costs even more down … I think more and more people will probably buy a server and place it somewhere in their house and have it accessible via the outside world . Meaning: a lot of households will get little clouds.

I’m not saying anything new here, a certain group of people has been running these things like in the uhm… pre-Internet BBS era. And a lot of ‘Linux persons’ are running their servers for years and years but… I think however it will go mainstream now.

And uhm… I am also writing this to convince my wife that this new high-end server is absolutely needed apart from our X other computers on our gigabyte LAN with its own N terabyte storage capacity because uhm… more services in the cloud for our household simply means: we need more powerful servers in house. So… uhm… in the end it will save us a lot of money (there is however the downside that maintenance and functional improvement DO mean some hours per month you have to set aside for these tasks) (luckily some people like this for a hobby) (and maybe there is a business opportunity for servecing the 99% out there who has no clue).