After years of such cloud based solutions being available to consumers at no cost – businesses are starting to use such services – also for free, courtesy of Google, without regard of consequences. The full reasoning of Google offering such services to the public at no costs - especially in cases where Google obtained such technology through a buyout – isn’t completely clear yet, and the Gmail service is no exception. Regardless, a vital omission is being overlooked by all users of Gmail and Google’s free service offerings by the users, the lack of guarantee of service. Essentially, Google is offering all these services to consumers and businesses at no costs, and in most cases, they have no obligation to continue offering such services. The single exception is where businesses pay Google for the use of their services (typically larger organisations).

This effectively implies that Google could, at any time, shut off service to these free users. Years of emails, memories, photos, videos and history would be lost. Gmail, Google Documents, Google Calendar, Picasa Web Albums – could all be shutoff tomorrow with no way of accessing the data.

This article has been inspired by a Google glitch that has caused just that, and while Google is resolving the issue and in no way looking to terminate accounts, the possibility of doing so intentionally is not unimaginable, resulting in a huge lose of personal history.

The author of this article is a large fan of Google – using the free Gmail service from it’s beta stage in 2004, to using Google Apps to manage his own domain name emails. However, with the realisation of this data being potentially shut off tomorrow, perhaps it’s time to stop putting all our eggs into Google’s basket.

Purpose: A final year TAFE group project with no restrictions or requirements, only to create a project to highlight the course knowledge we received. Being the team leader,  I assembled a team that would create a complete I.T. solution for a small business that was free – based on Open Source technology. The final deliverables included a company website, email systems, office suite and telecommunications that gave access to all of the IT systems from a Apple iPhone. The specifications and project management are all shown on the website below.

http://Delature.cogn.net/

Purpose: A more generic implementation of MelbRoads (Sharing great driving roads online), suited towards businesses and car clubs with user and access control rights. While MelbRoads is setup for Victoria, AussieRoads is setup for all the Australian states.

http://www.AussieRoads.com/

Purpose: MelbRoads is a website to share great driving roads around Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. You can search for your own driving road by choosing different factors, such as speed or road type, or even what you’ll be driving (Car or Motorcycle.) If you have a good driving road, you can submit for others to try out.

http://www.MelbRoads.com/