As a retired IT Operations Manager I find PCW a very useful way of keeping in touch with technological developments.  So congratulations on an excellent magazine.

However, I do not share your enthusiasm for Web 2.0 and thin clients, with all software, personal data and correspondence stored on some remote server(s).  As a keen amateur photographer there is no way I would trust any organisation with my photographs and neither would I want my financial and personal information open to employees of commercial organisation and all and sundry hackers.

I can see the benefits to corporate organisations of remote access to data and corporately configured software, but for private individuals there would potentially be huge disadvantages to being forced to subscribe to the latest (and remote) software. I still use Win95 and an old version of Office on one of my PCs, while having the latest Photoshop on another machine.

I am sure there are many PC users who continue to use older versions of software because they still have all the required functionality.  Mr Gates would I am sure be very pleased to force us all to subscribe to the very latest (and probably flaky) version of his software.

Finally, my PC is always available. Remote servers are not. I also know exactly where my backups are stored.  Could I be confident of software and data being available if stored remotely - I think not!

Mike Curry