What is Ubuntu one?

[Gavyn]

Hey guys i have heard a lot about Ubuntu one. I was wondering as to exactly what is Ubuntu one and what is it exactly used for. My friend uses it to share files with others and all but isn't that what you can do by using sites like rapidshare? I went to their site and it said that i need to pay $10 a month for 50 GB space. Isn't that a bit overpriced for space usage each month? I also would like to know how secure is the data we upload there as my friend did in this case, i am concerned as to how something like this can be secure in terms of privacy. Is storing your data off site a good idea?? Please shed some light on this topic and some of the queries i have posted. Thanks in advance

[Jackson2]

Ubuntu one is basically Ubuntu's first move in the territory of cloud computing. Cloud computing is basically where your data, files are no longer being stored on your computer but instead stored on a personal cloud of yours. Cloud here actually means the internet. Ubuntu one is free and you upload upto 2 Gb of data there before the fee to buy subscription starts kicking in. This is the direction of the future where in computing is heading towards the clouds. You can share that data, those files with selected people you wish to share them with on the internet. You can also sync it with your computer. This is still a new concept and much has to be learned about it in terms of security.

[johnson22]

Well in terms of security Ubuntu one is supposed to be very robust. You cannot access the data stored on a cloud unless it is shared with you by the owner of that particular cloud. It would be a good practice to compress, encrypt and use a strong password on your data before uploading it, just like what you would do normally. The term cloud is used as a metaphor for internet in the concept of cloud computing. You will be able to access the uploaded data on your cloud from a web browser, thus making it accessible from anywhere and at anytime. You will need to have Jaunty or Karmic koala to install the Ubuntu one application for the best performance possible as specified by their site.

[deveritt]

Well ubuntu one is supposed to let you access your data and files from anywhere, anytime with one click of the browser. Cloud computing is the term being applied to this concept. Basically it consists of the clients, applications, platform and infrastructure. The client is basically you or the computer you use for this application and one getting the service delivery. An application is what is used to access the services being offered eliminating the need of software maintenance on the client. A platform will use the available infrastructure to support the applications. The infrastructure is basically platform virtualization being delivered as a service. Last but not the least there are servers which are used to actually deliver the services at hand.

[Techno01]

Well you you don't pay for the 2 GB storage space offered at the beginning, that is for free. What you pay $10 per month is for the additional 50GB that you might want to use or buy. Well that sounds quite expensive considering the pen drives, hard drives are quite cheap these days and can be used to do the same thing that Ubuntu one does. That way it doesn't make much sense to buy the 50 GB subscription. But the concept is interesting considering it will sync any work you do on it with the computer at home, contact syncing, sharing the files with other computers, all the files available anywhere you want through a browser. Looks like it is a very useful thing provided it is secure. But i guess encrypting and using a password on the data being uploaded is a good idea in terms of security. As far as i know only the computers you share the files with will be able to access them and no one else.

[Techguru01]

Well this concept is similar to something called as skydrive on msn. It allows you to upload 25 Gb of data. These files, data you can either share with others or keep them locked in a folder. This is all for free if you have a msn account compared to the miserly 2 GB being offered for free by Ubuntu one. 25 Gb for free or 50 GB for 10$ subscription per month? the choice is pretty simple really in this case. Hard drives and pen drives cannot be takes everywhere and hence why this concept is useful in my opinion. I recently tried out this but uploading a movie to my friend's cloud, i must say it was very cool. You can move entire folders in storage instead of manually selecting every single file which is another advantage. Overall this is a win win concept for people on the go and working away from home all the time.