Author Topic: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...  (Read 6430 times)

TheLaw

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Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« on: 2009-11-14, 07:22:06 AM »
Wow, I found a doozy of a website yesterday! Its a free virtual computer (actually an operating system) that you can login to from any browser (mobile too) on any computer anywhere in the world! It actually is an operating system (or works hard to pretend!), complete with some games and apps for media and productivity and other. It also has it's own built in browser! It's weird thinking about browsing with a browser in a browser, but the idea is portability. All your settings in the os and the browser are saved to your storage. So the desktop and the browsers cookies and settings will all be available to you from any computer. This way you can have your own personal desktop just the way you like it and a web browser that already knows you (saved passwords, etc) Plus you get 15GB of storage to store your stuff on. Add in a built in email (which allows you to forward your other email accounts easily), built in buddies and IM's, sync and sharing with your buddies, and more - I'm in!

Since they have a "refer a friend" program in play, if you sign-up I'd appreciate using me as "refered by". This will give me another 5GB of storage! It'll ask you once you confirm your email and you get to the account options screen. Just paste in ghostlaw  (right in the edit window that has @G.ho.st after it)

Check it out and watch that little video they have. It's called Ghost: http://g.ho.st/

I'd also strongly suggest having a look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inbCIil2fog .It shows the CEO of Ghost who seems to be a smart cookie!

Happy Cloud Computing!  :)
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Tanja

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #1 on: 2009-11-14, 08:04:35 AM »
yeah nice. so basically you give all your passwords to some "internet company" and even work on private documents that are stored on their space... wow.

TheLaw

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #2 on: 2009-11-14, 08:26:25 AM »
LOL, yeah I should expect that it's not for everyone. That "some internet company" happens to be Amazon in this case (they host the storage)
While I can't blame anyone for not wanting to use online "things" like this. If you read into it more you may find that it's just as secure or more secure than your local system - but with different pro's and con's I guess. Nothing is 100% I suppose! (That youtube link I gave with the CEO has him talking briefly about the security of it all).

As for the passwords, of course, using their browser is optional and storing your passwords is optional too. Actually it may not even be supported - it's more about the cookies i guess. (I haven't payed much attention to it yet).

But thanks for the opinion! Its neat to know just who is and who isn't happy about this "way of the future".
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tprime

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #3 on: 2009-11-14, 12:24:27 PM »
I got a message about this.

TheLaw

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #4 on: 2009-11-14, 12:54:34 PM »
Yeah, TonyX, that was from the handy friend invite thing that it has. I had it mass email everyone on my hotmail for me. Sorry, I'm excited about making a few referrals and getting some more storage space.

So to be clear, so that this doesn't end up seeming like a bogus gimmick post,  I'm posting with another of my many web tools (I think I'm up to quite a few now...!). Just so happens with this one - if you like it, you can do me a favor and score me some extra storage space - is all!

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Tanja

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #5 on: 2009-11-14, 05:15:02 PM »
Amazon. Yeah. This is waaaaay better. I should wonder why they put up this service, they already have all of the valuable personal data of every user already. But hey, more private information about people is pure money, so why bother? gosh.

TheLaw

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #6 on: 2009-11-14, 07:06:09 PM »
LOL, I just love it! Thanks Tanja. This is what excites me most about my post! I love how there's such strong opinions against doing everything online. We all know it's what the future is heading toward, but it's not for everyone, is it!?? (I'm mostly talking about online activity/storage/backup now.. in general., not just g,ho.st)

Tanja, would you mind elaborating on what exactly makes you uncomfortable about it?

Is someone gonna jack the Amazon .com building with ski masks on and physically steal or damage the machines that our data is stored on?
Is someone gonna bust the encryption and hack in via software?

..or..

Is your physical backup gonna get lost stolen, broken damaged, burned, "dog ate my homework", etc?
Is someone gonna hijack your personal computer via software?


Hummph, You tell me!!?? I don't want to form an opinion. Nothing's 100%, but online backup is fantastic  in addition to traditional physical backup.
I don't feel safe anywhere really. Everything we do with our computers is risky?! Would it be safe to say that our login info when we log into sgkd forums is at a similar risk?  It's not exactly the same, but its you keying in sensitive data and sending it "out there" on the web. ..If I wanted it I could get it..! (well not me, but someone qualified!) ...(similar risk meaning --not much risk..!)

I'll be as bold as to say that I feel Mac computers are only considered more secure because they don't have a huge windows (popularity) sign on their backs. I can't help but feel that if Mac was *flip ...reversed market share with windows, I feel it'd only be a matter of time before people figure out how to hack a Mac. ...or any other operating system for that matter. ...Essh, that's a bold statement I know! Don't hurt me too much for saying it...! :scared:

Any-who, my little hacking theory could fill a book (or, two, or three, etc), and people could (and have) had a back and forth about it for ages!

Anyone else feel as negatively about it all? <-Cloud computing? Storing Online? 


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Jam0864

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #7 on: 2009-11-14, 10:14:20 PM »
I don't care so much about the security side of things (I wouldnt be doing banking through it after all) but if everything turned to cloud computing in the future, I would have to hate it because we're such a distance from everybody else (australia) that we would have insane latency and suboptimal speeds.

Tanja

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #8 on: 2009-11-15, 04:40:24 AM »
Is someone gonna jack the Amazon .com building with ski masks on and physically steal or damage the machines that our data is stored on?
Is someone gonna bust the encryption and hack in via software?

whoa, hell no! you got me totally wrong. my concerns is not about anybody stealing data from Amazons's servers. It's about Amazon itself. It would be about almost every company. There are very few companies who "sell" real data safety. For example, there are some which sell automatic backup systems. You have then an extern hard drive, where the software puts a backup on every day. Along with that, you get some gigs online, so you have a second backup on their servers. The company itself is all about safety and trustworthy, it's their only reason of existence, so to say.

But Amazon and all these fishy companies giving you a crapload of free things on advertise base, i don't trust them. In german there is a nice word for them, like Google they are "Datenkraken", which means like an octopus with eight arms they try to find out everything about you. All your surfing history, all your cookies, every item you looked at in an online shop, what did you write in forums, what do your read, watch, say, BUY, need, want...

They don't give you all this pretty shiny things just because they are so fine people. They want to make money, and the best way to achieve this nowadays is to gather as much data as possible, and turn it into user profiles.
But, besides, this may be normal to a certain point. And a lot of us accept it to get all this free services. That's totally okay. But there are other things to enter into the equation. Like this terrorism crap. It's not about terrorists stealing data. It's about american efforts to get to know everything about everybody so they can find their bombers. gosh. right now they are struggling to keep access to all the bank data of all european citizens. like mine. they already have the access because the SWIFT servers are in the USA, now moving to Europe.

if there is the slightest suspicion about somebody, they check everything. What arouses suspicion? Buying a book about Islam and one about electrical engineering on Amazon, for instance. Can you guess what comes next? Besides checking your personal, business and financial background they ask Amazon for access to your super free online account, and will get it. There is not much private, if it's on the internet.

There are a lot of cases showing how it's going just like that. This is not fiction. In Germany lives a man, his life sucks very much just because of this. His only fault were to write the word "Precarity" (like in precarious work) and some other buzzwords too often in his publications. He is a sociologist and the words are normal terms in his job. Along with some political engagement this brought the Federal Criminal Office to scene, who observed him for ONE YEAR. There were cameras attached to neighbourhood houses to watch his door, for getting to know when he comes and leaves, alone or with other persons. They checked his private background and his friends and his work. They asked his money institute if they could see his cash movements. And just because they ASKED, the institute quit his contract. The man didn't know it, but he had no privacy anymore. They wiretapped his telephone, read his mails and watched who he was meeting. For one entire year. Because he used some sensitive words innocently. It all came out some day, and his life was destroyed. His name is Andrej Holm, please google him for yourself.

Ok, ok, calm down now. I know this is totally not what you expected to hear now. It sounds very fantastic and freaky, like from a paranoid. I just wanted to say things are definitely not easy anymore. I didn't want to say the government will come for you and read all your private things just because you use online storage services. I justed wanted to say, be careful, think twice about everything anybody wants to give you for free on the web. Look from who it's coming, and what rewards they have from giving it to you.
« Last Edit: 2009-11-15, 04:58:01 AM by Tanja »

Rubix Cube

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #9 on: 2009-11-18, 02:39:15 AM »
Quote
Is someone gonna jack the Amazon .com building with ski masks on and physically steal or damage the machines that our data is stored on?
Is someone gonna bust the encryption and hack in via software?

Ever heard of Big Brother, Law? Robbers aren't the only people who would like your personal information... Might I just mention this Wiki article?

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Listening_to_you_at_last:_EU_plans_to_tap_cell_phones

Quote
The man didn't know it, but he had no privacy anymore.
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TheLaw

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #10 on: 2009-11-21, 07:24:34 AM »
Thanks Rubix Cube and Tanja!
   
Well this just sucks! I'm completely in love with Ghost, but now I'm too scared to use it!

Quote
Ever heard of Big Brother, Law?
The Show? Unfortunately yes! My GF is a big enough fan for the both of us! ...Which is good because I don't have to watch it! ;)

Oh well, for me I'm gonna think it like driving a car. If you thought of the risks you'd never leave the house. I'll treat my online ghost activities with the same good precautions that I use with my local OS. Hopefully I won't have an accident!

Anyone else brave enough to drive their cars online shouldn't miss Ghost. Check it out! (Remember "ghostlaw" sent ya!!!)
Thanks for the posts!
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durnurd

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #11 on: 2009-11-21, 07:30:55 AM »
I'm pretty sure when they mentioned big brother they were referring to 1984, a book about a dystopian future where the government spies on every single person on an individual basis.
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TheLaw

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #12 on: 2009-11-21, 07:52:34 AM »
Ahh,  :-[  :-[

LOL, I wondered! Thanks for clearing that up!
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Tanja

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Re: Now this is WILD!!! Get a free virutual computer...
« Reply #13 on: 2009-11-28, 11:46:18 AM »
Big Brother is also a widespread name for the government.
found a nice one just now, althogh it is barely related to Ghost:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/24/ripa_jfl/