As a matter of fact, if one have all is files stored on a cloud, the day that cloud vanish in the air (pun intended
) one lose all his files!
I didn't check their contract but I'm pretty sure that they deny responsibility in case of loss…
History tells us that the real risk is that the cloud company goes bankrupt, is sold or decides to abandon that particular part of their business and that users have 2 weeks notice to download their files before they are deleted.
But "downloading the files" is not really an option for us photographers. We will probably still have the original files from the cameras. After all, the cameras save the files locally (e.g. on a memory card) and you and I keep that original data on a hard disk. We may also keep the final version of files we publish.
What we will lose in that case is the environnement around the files:
- any cataloguing, this is the problem that Asher is asking about in this thread
- the information about our edits: how we changed the image between the original data and the published data.
That latter info may be of considerable importance for us photographers, as we may be asked for a new version of the published data, but with slightly different edits. I'll take an example: I edited some pictures by adding grain before printing them. I normally adjust the size of the grain according to the size of the print, it is nicer in that way. If I am asked for a different size of print in the future, I need to come back to the old intermediate version.
At present these files are under Apple Aperture. I can keep that obsolete software running, because it works locally. If the software would require the cloud, I could not do that. Even with local copies, software dependent on the cloud will not work when the cloud is gone or when the manufacturer decides to end support.
The context here is Asher's question about Apple "Photos", which I am considering using myself (I inquired about cataloguing in another thread). I answered that this program keeps everything in a local file. That is true
today. Apple can change that at any moment. I discovered yesterday to my surprise that they did that for another, unrelated, application.
That will not goes thru me
Then you will be out of business. They don't need to make an exception for you when they have 2 billions other customers.
Pardon me for being blunt, but I believe that this is really the situation. The world of photography has changed considerably in the past ten years. The business of professional photography as you are doing has become a niche and additionally one which does not bring much money. The computer business has no financial interest in serving that particular niche.
I don't know how to solve that particular problem but I think we should be aware of what awaits us.
