[leecho0]

I think this is an interesting topic. But before we can even get started, we need to get a sense of what we are talking about when we're referring to cloud computing. I have my own prediction for what cloud computing will look like in the future at my blog http://lchou1.blogspot.com/2008/12/future-of-computing.html

If you agree with that vision of computing on the cloud, you'll see that software and the way we interact with it on a daily basis will be completely different. Just like how television changed media, cloud computing will change technology. For instance, moving things to the cloud means you can access the information anywhere, so "your computer" won't be a physical entity, but an account, and soon, you probably won't need a full computer to access these services. So I don't think it's right to just say that cloud computing will "just" be better, it's going to change the game.

As for privacy, I think it's a good trend that this is being brought out into the open. If someone had the desire, people can find out a great deal about you with what's available now. Knowing about it and actively trying to protect privacy is the only way to prevent the big-brother scenario from happening. There was an article on something related to this not too long ago on hn: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=685095