Choosing Cloud Providers

I’ve mentioned many cloud providers in this book, and in the preceding chapters I’ve offered brief recommendations for each type of service (cloud storage, syncing, backup, and so on). However, I now want to step back and help you ponder some broader considerations, such as these:

• How many different cloud services do I need, and how can I combat cloud overload?
• Are there cases in which a non-cloud solution makes more sense?
• How do I evaluate different providers when the range of services each offers is different, and they overlap in confusing ways?
• How can I keep up with changing prices, features, and service providers?
• How can I cope with the relentless shift toward subscription models?

In many cases, the question is less “Which provider should I use?” and more “Which provider(s) can I do without?”

I’ll begin by addressing cloud storage, sync, and backup services (which often overlap), and then I’ll move on to other areas.

Storage, Sync, and Backup Services

For a number of years, I signed up for every new cloud storage, sync, and backup service that came along—I had accounts with Dropbox, Amazon Drive, Box, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, OneDrive, and SugarSync (among others). I also had a personal cloud storage appliance (the now-discontinued Transporter), a personal cloud storage server (OwnCloud), and a desktop app for directly syncing folders across my devices (Resilio Sync). On top of that, I had multiple online backups (Backblaze, CrashPlan, DollyDrive, SpiderOak ONE) and several ways to sync notes across devices and with the Cloud (Evernote, iCloud Notes, OneNote).

One day it hit me: I’d become a cloud storage junkie. I needed help.

I was spending lots of money on cloud services and lots of time trying to manage them, but not using any of them fully. I could never figure out which service to use for what, and I found all those syncing folders and semi-overlapping services more of a burden than a benefit.

There was yet another complication: figuring out where a file was physically located. Depending on the service, version, and platform, what a given device shows me might be simply a list of files in the Cloud, or it might be local copies of those files. I was left wondering what would happen if I lost Internet access on a particular device—would I still be able to see my files there? Or, what if I wanted to delete files from a device to save space—would they still be in the Cloud and on my other devices?

I eventually found my own solution to these problems. Yours may be different, of course, but I’ll walk you through the process I followed.

Factors to Consider

As I explained in a Daily Mac View article, The Task-Based Approach to Tech Purchase Decisions, I generally follow what some of my fellow tech geeks consider to be a heretical practice: I don’t buy new things just because they’re shiny and cool and everyone else is getting them. I buy products in order to solve specific problems or address existing needs. If I don’t have a problem that the new iDoohickey SE will solve, I’m not going to plop down my credit card. It’s that simple.

It’s a bit different with cloud storage and services, in that you can nearly always sign up and try them for free—and only later (after a trial period ends or you’ve exhausted the free storage allotment) are you required to pay. As a result, it’s easy to find yourself with lots of services and their associated apps.

Nevertheless, I think it would be useful, before signing up for any new service—even if it’s free—to ask yourself the same two questions you should ask before any technology purchase:

• Am I certain that this service addresses a problem or need I’m currently experiencing?
• If yes, am I also certain that none of the products or services I’m already using can address that problem or need?

I phrase the questions like this because it’s extremely hard to say no to offers of huge storage space or fantastic features for the proverbial price of a latte per month. But…am I currently experiencing insufficient cloud storage? (No!) Or has my productivity been suffering solely for want of some feature that only some new service can provide? (Probably not!)

But let’s say it’s too late for that and you already have a boatload of cloud service accounts. As you think about how you use them and whether you truly need them all, consider these questions:

• Do you often have to flip a coin to decide which cloud-synced folder to use for storing a file, or which service to use for editing a shared document? If yes, the services may be interchangeable.
• Do any of them actively annoy you? Are you bothered by a confusing user interface, irritating notifications, constant prompts to upgrade to a more expensive plan? If a service is interfering with your happiness rather than enhancing it, there’s probably a better option.
• For any given service, what would be the negative consequences of getting rid of it? If the worst thing that could happen is that you’d be required to drag your files into a different folder, the service is probably not indispensable to you.
• How much money are you paying per year, in total, for your cloud services? (Seriously: go add it up. You might be shocked at the figure!) Wouldn’t you like to use some of that money to buy donuts instead?
• How much of your available storage is unused? If you’re paying for a terabyte of storage (or even unlimited storage) and using only a few hundred megabytes, it’s not a good deal for you. Similarly, how many other services (streaming video, apps, and so on) do you pay for but rarely if ever use?

The Path of Simplicity

If you feel you have too many cloud providers—or if you’re tempted to add more but are unsure of the benefits or consequences—I’d like to suggest a way of thinking about the problem that emphasizes simplicity. It amounts to using only those services that provide you with something essential you can’t get anywhere else.

Because I know it can be traumatic to consider making big changes all at once (such as rearranging all your files and canceling subscriptions you’ve had for years), let’s begin with a thought experiment that requires nothing other than reflection (and perhaps some notes on a piece of paper):

1. Think, for the moment, only about cloud storage and file syncing, and imagine you could use only one provider. Which one would meet the largest portion of your needs?
2. Once you have a provider in mind, make a list of your current cloud storage needs that this provider does not meet. Depending on what that list contains, try repeating the experiment with a different provider and see if you can shorten that list.
3. See if another of the providers you use offers everything remaining on your list. If not, find one that offers as many of them as possible and make a list of any essential capabilities that are still unmet.
4. Repeat Step 3 as needed until your list is empty.

Let me walk you through my own thought process as an example. I’ll start with Dropbox, which I like and depend on for lots of things. Which cloud-storage problems could Dropbox alone not solve for me? To keep things simple, here are just two of my answers:

• Syncing data with software (such as Apple’s iCloud Keychain and iWork apps for iOS) that uses iCloud exclusively
• Storing extra-large files that would put me over Dropbox Pro’s 1 TB cap

I notice that iCloud appears on that list. So, let me now switch things around and pretend I could use only iCloud. What problems are unsolved now?

• Using apps and cloud services (such as IFTTT, Leanpub, and Spotdox) that connect to Dropbox but not to iCloud
• Storing extra-large files that would put me over the amount of data storage I currently pay for (or am willing to pay for in the future)

I’d also add a new problem:

• Collaborating with colleagues and publishers that use only Dropbox for sharing files

These lists alone are enough to convince me that I must use both Dropbox and iCloud. Each has features I require that the other one lacks.

Now I imagine using both of those cloud services—but no others. Can I still think of any missing features? Sure. Here are some examples:

• Collaborating with colleagues and publishers that use only Google Docs for shared documents that require collaborative editing
• Making sure sensitive data could never be accessible to a corporation without my permission

Now it appears I must add G Suite, or at least Google Drive and Google Docs, to my list. (Of course, I can restrict my use of Google Docs to editing shared documents in my browser, not install the Google Drive app on any of my devices, and not pay Google any money. It’s the next best thing to not using it at all.)

But I still have a few problems. Can I solve them without adding still more services? Perhaps:

• Storage limits and sensitive data: If I’m running low on storage space in my computers, I can buy an external hard drive or NAS (network-attached storage) device to hold the overflow; some NAS devices are even accessible over the Internet, so the result would approximate using a cloud provider. A Lima Ultra (see Personal Cloud Server Appliances) can also potentially meet this need.

  Any of these options can also be used to prevent sensitive data from being stored in the cloud. Alternatively, I could use software such as Boxcryptor or Viivo (both free for personal use) to encrypt data I store in Dropbox. Or, if I genuinely need cloud storage, I could use a service such as SpiderOak ONE that encrypts my data with a personal key so that only I can access it.

• Syncing arbitrary folders: If I just need two folders to be the same on multiple computers, I don’t have to go through the Cloud. I can use a desktop app such as ChronoSync for macOS or the cross-platform Resilio Sync for this purpose. Depending on your needs, the software you use for this purpose could be free or require a modest, one-time fee.

At this point in my thought experiment, I’ve decided that for my own needs, Dropbox, iCloud, and Google Docs are all mandatory. (Needless to say, your thought experiment may yield different results!)

Now, to be sure I haven’t overlooked anything, I’ll try extending my thought experiment to cancelling all my other cloud storage services. If I got rid of Box, OneDrive, SugarSync, and so on, would I be losing anything essential? For me, the answer is no: everything I used those other services for can also be done with either Dropbox or iCloud Drive. Your answer may, of course, differ.

But wait! There are still many other types of cloud services, some of which overlap in capabilities with the likes of Dropbox and iCloud, so let’s extend the discussion to a couple of those now:

• Backups: As I said Cloud Backups, backup is fundamentally different from syncing. The fact that you can sync a subset of your files with Dropbox or iCloud Drive—even if both services offer a limited capability to retrieve older versions of files—doesn’t mean your backup problems are solved.

  Although some cloud services provide both syncing and backup features, the question is whether the service you depend on for syncing has adequate backup features. For example, SugarSync can both sync and back up your data. That’s great, but if you need Dropbox regardless (because your employer uses it, or the apps you depend on connect to it, or whatever), then there’s no point to using SugarSync for syncing—that just complicates your life. Thus, if you already know you need an online backup service in addition to an online sync service, it doesn’t matter whether the service you choose also offers syncing. This may mean adding a provider such as CrashPlan or Backblaze to your list.

• Note syncing: Apps like Evernote and OneNote sync notes and certain other documents across your devices and enable you to edit them in a browser. That’s useful—but is it necessary to rely on a separate service just for notes? If you already use iCloud, iCloud Notes offers many of the same capabilities as Evernote and OneNote. Dropbox Paper does something similar. If you don’t care about editing your notes in a browser, then syncing plain text files or word processing documents using any sync service is yet another option. (Personally, I use Dropbox to sync plain-text notes across my devices; I can then edit those notes in the app of my choice.)

  To be sure, Evernote does a lot more than sync notes, and I know people who are deeply committed to it. But I also know people whose use of Evernote is basic enough that it could be replaced, without undue trauma, by another service they already use.

At the end of my own deliberations, I decided that the only storage and sync services I need to pay for are Dropbox and iCloud (in both cases, I’m paying only for extra storage), plus CrashPlan for backups. I use Google Docs only on occasion, and only to edit documents other people have shared with me. I also use Resilio Sync software, but that’s not an ongoing expense.

Would I like to reduce that list further? Sure! But as long as I work with some businesses that use Dropbox exclusively and others that use Google Docs exclusively, I can’t ditch either of those. Likewise, because Apple is unlikely ever to let third-party syncing handle all the data types that iCloud currently can, it’s difficult to imagine dropping iCloud. There are numerous alternatives to using CrashPlan for cloud backups (some of which are free or require only a one-time purchase), but all of them involve trade-offs I’m not crazy about. That story could change in the future.

Having decided which services to use, I cancelled those I didn’t need that required an annual fee. As for the rest, I uninstalled the software but left my account open—since they were free, there was no harm in doing so, and I might find a need for those services later.

I’m not saying you’ll come up with the same list of storage and sync providers I did. You might find that a single service truly can meet all your needs—or you might decide that, say, Amazon Drive and Google Drive are the right choices for you. But whatever your choices, I urge you not to be tempted by gobs of free or dirt-cheap online storage. The fact that you can do something doesn’t mean you should!

Other Services

If you’re experiencing other sorts of cloud overload, you can do the same sort of thought experiment with other cloud services. For example, if you find yourself switching among Google Docs, iWork for iCloud, and Office Online for various collaborative writing projects, imagine what it would be like if you used only one of them. What capabilities would you lack, or what problems would exist? How many of those could you address by adding just one more service? What is the smallest number of services you can use that will meet all your needs?

You may well ask why you should bother limiting yourself, especially if the services in question are free. Although there’s no technological reason you can’t subscribe to lots of different services, you’ll probably find that the more scattered your information is, the more time-consuming it is to locate any particular piece of data. (Did I put that in a Google Doc? Or was that in Trello? No, wait, I think that was in Evernote. Or maybe Slack?) And you’ll almost certainly be more productive if you stick with a smaller number of tools and learn them well, rather than switching constantly among tools with different interfaces and feature sets.

When it comes to entertainment, however, the problem is that your options are limited by the services that offer the particular music, TV shows, and movies you want to watch. If you want to watch Star Trek: Discovery, you’re going to need a CBS All Access subscription. For Twin Peaks, it has to be Showtime. For Con Man, your only choice is Comic-Con HQ. And so on. Although syndication and shifting license agreements will eventually change all this, every network has a vested interest in offering exclusive content, precisely because it forces customers to pay extra money to subscribe. Sorry! (I say more about this later in the chapter, in Subscriptions for Everything.)

Additional Factors

If, even after thinking through everything I’ve covered so far, you find yourself on the fence when it comes to deciding on cloud providers, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Consider the easy route when possible. You may already have an account for a service that’ll meet many of your needs. Nearly everyone with an Apple device has a free iCloud account, and it’s increasingly rare to find someone without Google, Amazon, and Dropbox accounts. The path of least resistance may be to stick with your existing provider(s) and simply use more of their services. For example, if you have a Gmail account, you’re already using Google Drive storage; download the app and enter your existing credentials, and you gain the ability to sync and share files.
• Follow the crowd. What do the majority of your friends and colleagues use for a given type of service? They may not have made the perfect choice, but using the same service yourself removes a barrier to sharing data. Better yet, you can lean on your friends for informal tech support.
• Evaluate each capability separately. If the problem you most urgently want to solve is cloud backup, evaluate candidate providers solely on how well they do backup. Maybe some of them also offer calendar syncing or image editing or whatever, but you’re never obligated to use all the capabilities of a cloud service. Find the best provider (according to your individual needs) for each task.
• Look at major players first. Large, well-known companies like Adobe, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft have significant advantages when it comes to cloud services. They all have massive data centers in multiple locations, vast engineering staffs, long experience with offering secure services on gargantuan scales, and strong motivation to keep their users (and shareholders) happy. I’ve seen many enthusiastic, well-funded startups go out of business after a year or two, and that makes me circumspect about relying too heavily on such companies for cloud services. Of course, you may find a smaller provider with a unique service or killer pricing, and I don’t mean to suggest that only major players are worth considering. But in a close contest, I’d generally give the nod to a well-established company.
• Read privacy policies. As I said in Privacy Policies, a privacy policy may be no guarantee, but it can tell you about a company’s intentions—and a policy with troubling language can warn you away from a sketchy provider before you use it to store or transfer sensitive information.
• Check into data portability. Some providers make it easy to export your data from the Cloud to local storage and then import it elsewhere; others make it nearly impossible. If your data might be “stuck” in the Cloud, it’s better to know that up front than to be surprised later.
• Expect everything to change. Repeatedly. Try not to become too attached to any service or capability, because odds are, the facts will change at some point. Just as you’ve made peace with the new world order, things will change again. That’s the way of the Cloud, and you’ll be happier if you embrace it. Luckily, signing up for a cloud service isn’t a major commitment like buying a house. You don’t have to live with your decision forever. Speaking of change…
• Base decisions on today’s features and today’s prices. You may hear rumors that a provider plans to add or change features in the future–or cut (or increase) prices. But plans change all the time, and you’ll go crazy trying to second-guess yourself. Figure out what best serves your needs right now and don’t worry that something better may come along tomorrow. I mean, something better will come along tomorrow, but don’t worry about it!
• Reevaluate your choices every year or so. You may luck out and find a cloud service that meets your needs perfectly, year after year. But you may also find that, as time goes by, you rarely use a service you paid money for a year ago when it was the hot new thing. You may realize that a new service, a price decrease, or changing trends among your peers draws you to replace one provider with another. There’s no problem with any of this, but my suggestion here is twofold. First, don’t be too hasty. It takes time to get used to a new service and for providers to work out the initial kinks. After a year, you should have a solid sense of how valuable a service is to you. But second, don’t be complacent. You may decide to renew a service repeatedly, but make it a deliberate, informed choice. Habits for habits’ sake won’t serve you well in the Cloud. (For more, see the sidebar Keeping Up with the Cloud, ahead.)
• Consider how up-to-date your devices are. All things being equal, newer computers and mobile devices—or even older devices running the latest operating systems—are more likely to work well with the Cloud than older devices with outdated operating systems.
• Don’t blow off local apps. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: since so many things can be done in the Cloud, it’s easy to forget that a better solution to some problems may still be an app you purchase and install on a local device. Even conventional apps can usually save data to cloud storage, and you may find that to be a more useful solution than a Web app in a browser window.
• Avoid duplication where possible. One cloud backup provider is good; two or three may be not just overkill, but a serious strain on your broadband connection and your computer’s processing resources. The same goes for other types of services. As I’ve pointed out throughout this chapter, you’ll generally have greater happiness when you pick just one provider for each service, and when you stay within the ecosystem where you feel most comfortable. There may be exceptions—for example, you have to use a certain sync service for work, but you want to use a different one for personal documents—but if you must duplicate services, do so with a clear plan for differentiating which data goes with which service.
• Avoid duplication where possible. Just checking to see if you’re paying attention!

Subscriptions for Everything

I’d like to add one final rant while we’re on the topic of choosing cloud services.

I’m old enough to remember the Good Old Days, when you purchased whatever software you needed, and then it was yours to keep. You might pay for upgraded versions every so often, but that was up to you. As long as your app remained compatible with your computer’s operating system, you could keep using it indefinitely.

Well, the times they are a-changin’. Nowadays, you can still purchase apps some of the time, but increasingly, developers of all kinds are moving to subscription models—not necessarily for the apps themselves but for the right to use them.

For example, Adobe’s collection of graphics and publishing tools, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, are massive apps that require a lot of local storage and processing horsepower. So at present, although there are cloud-based apps that offer some of their features, you still have to download the full apps and run them on your Mac or PC for all the functionality. However, you can no longer buy these apps (formerly known, collectively, as Adobe Creative Suite). Instead, you must now subscribe to them via something called Adobe Creative Cloud.

Creative Cloud is, in my opinion, a misuse of the word “cloud” because the only respect in which these could be considered cloud apps is that they check Adobe’s servers periodically to confirm that your paid subscription is still valid, and if it’s not, they won’t work. The Cloud isn’t where the processing occurs, only where the licensing is tracked.

Now, whatever you think of the name, it’s clear that this model for software—keeping it local but checking in with the Cloud in order to enforce a recurring subscription fee—is becoming more pervasive. Microsoft is doing something similar with Office 365. The same goes for FileMaker Pro, 1Password, and a growing list of other popular apps.

The appeal of this model for providers is that they can make more money in the long run from ongoing subscriptions than from one-time purchases (even when periodic upgrades are factored in). Although I don’t begrudge developers a fair income for their work, the cost of all those monthly and annual subscription fees certainly adds up—and it means, if at some point I become unable to keep paying for the apps, I’ll no longer be able to use them at all.

Humor me. Make a list of all your recurring cloud-related costs, including:

• Desktop apps (like Creative Cloud and Office 365) that require an ongoing subscription
• Mobile apps with recurring in-app purchases for extended functionality
• Cloud storage, sync, and backup services (Dropbox, iCloud, CrashPlan, etc.)
• Cloud productivity apps (G Suite, Zoho, etc.)
• Cloud entertainment services (Apple Music, Netflix, Hulu, etc.)

How much did you spend on all those things combined last year? My figure was only about $500, but already this year I’ve subscribed to a couple more services, so next year it’ll be closer to $750.

Now, whatever your figure may be, the question is: How does that make you feel? If your answer is, “Terrific! I can’t believe the enormous amount of entertainment and productivity value I’m getting from such a modest price!” then the subscription model is clearly working out well for you (or you’re making do with a lot of free apps!). And that’s wonderful; I’m truly happy for you.

But if you find that number rather shocking, you might want to review the earlier parts of this chapter and think carefully about whether you truly need all those individual subscriptions, or whether you can combine, simplify, or otherwise discard some of them to get just the crucial combination for your work and play. And don’t forget, it’s still possible in many cases to opt for non-cloud-connected, local apps and do-it-yourself software and hardware (refer back to The Personal Cloud) to bring those recurring costs under control.