"The Cloud" is coming. Is your house next?

The latest big tech fad "the cloud" is being seen in a variety of ways and whether correctly or incorrectly defined, people see the tools both as boon and bust.

Take Google Maps 'street view' service for example.

The little cars with Google plastered on them and their alien looking cameras bolted on top have been received with anywhere from no notice at all to public protest.

Proponents for street view say the service allows one to find the place they are looking for easier, it allows students and 'visual travelers' an opportunity to 'see' an area as if they were nearly there to get a better idea of how things really are, and some other perhaps trivial but harmless points.

Opponents of the service call it an outright violation of privacy and a tool potential thieves can exploit to get an idea of how to 'case out' the next victim.

Which all goes to show, once again, that technology in and of itself is neither good or bad. it's in the intent of the person using the technology.

With the advent of 'cloud' services though and new hardware designed to take specific advantage of those services, such as netbooks, It seems the trend will move right on ahead privacy and security concerns be damned.

In these particular examples mentioned above, how will Linux take the hit?

Linux powers Google servers which dish out the content.

Linux powers, according to estimates, around 20% of netbooks now and is looking to take over more of that market as it expands.

Is it even worth looking at the notion that people might connect Linux to people using their netbooks to connect to street view and eyeball someones house for pillaging purposes?

I personally think it would be ludicrous to suggest that, yet, look at what proprietary proponents have tried to drum up about Linux and it's users in the press up to this point.

Netbooks are poised to facilitate the oncoming rush of web based or 'cloud' services. They, for the first real time, has MS getting the sweats about it's installed market.

As the content and services are escalated and the technology is pushing toward an 'on the move' audience, the 'ethical' discussions about some of these services and how they might be used will grow as well.

Not only are the concerns about how individuals might use the upcoming technology becoming heated, but the talk of how government might use it is concerning as well.

When the netbooks become mere "dumb terminals" or thin clients for web based OS's and applications, Where is your data? Who has access to it?

Is the next step for Google to use telescopic lenses to see in windows or maybe a new 'render invisible' lens to see right through walls going to be all the awe and the next level of service in that arena?

The new generation of netbooks will use cell phone processors. Think of the potential there.

Permanently web enabled netbooks that can log on anywhere, anytime.

"Hey kids, just download the control app to your home server and connect it to your refrigerator and stove top, your furnace and television center. You can have everything ready by the time you get home, all done remotely!"

The "Cloud" promises a lot of convenience and usability. The technology is coming to take full advantage of it.

The question is, how many people really want it?