Did you have to forward ports on your router to get it to work "from anywhere in the world"? If so, you've already gone beyond the capabilities of 99% of the userbase.

I'll admit that it was necessary, and I also had to set up a DDNS account and configure the rPi to use it - but this was very easy, and if Apple can wrap all this up in a fancy GUI, the way they wrapped up a similarly complex set of functionality with the Airport Utility and Apple TV products, I fail to see how it can be any more difficult for the average user than clicking a few buttons.

I think the economic desire is just not there - Apple have given up being an OS-vendor and are in the 'next generation' phase of things where they're producing commodity, throw-away hardware for consumers. This is all a brave new world, but my point is: I think there's a missed market opportunity here, for someone, to produce the anti-cloud.

I've been following your comments on this thread and completely agree with you with one tiny exception. Apple does not see itself as producing commodity gear. They still see their gear as luxury/non-commodity AND see their cloud as a benefit/value-add and profit center.

The problem -for me- is that Apple simply isn't that good at the cloud. Their competitors seem to beat them on both features and price here. You only go with iCloud for inclusion/integration with your other Apple devices, not because it is a superior cloud service.

They could be the "anti-cloud" company if they really wanted, but I think it is easier and more profitable for them to jump on the bandwagon and offer it themselves. To be an "anti-cloud" vendor would require them to sell against overall technology / consumer trends. They don't need to do that when they can extend their profits offering the same, and especially if it doesn't hurt the "luxury" status/profit margin of their main goods.

I think you are being extremely unrealistic about how much configuration regular users are willing or able to do.

Apple is pretty good at taming technological complexity. The functionality the parent's suggesting could be incorporated into Airport and/or MacOS. Going further, even DynDNS-type services could be something that Apple offers. None of this is to say that there's any economic incentive for them to do it, or that the feature/service would have mass adoption, just that Apple could do it, if they wanted to.

On a long enough curve, nearly every user becomes a "power user," and if you look back, a lot of stuff that was once strictly "advanced configuration," becomes simplified, or eventually just abstracted away and the domain of mere IT mortals. Apple and others could play a role here.

I think you're being naive about how it can be dealt with, technically, by those responsible for pushing OS features forward. But I remain convinced that we'll see robust, decent peer-to-peer system services being integrated into our OS's in the near future, rendering the Cloud impotent in the battle for peoples data.

Very very sad but true :-(

Because it makes things way easier for most people. No need for a Mac, backup included, sync automatically, etc. Dont forget setup is typing in your apple id and that's it.

This is made for "the rest of us."

Sorry, is ownership of your data not important? Is control over where and when your data is available, and by which means it is shared with the world, not important? Maybe this is more of a European thing, but the backlash against cloud computing is very much still in full force - there are people actually not buying computers because all this Cloud nonsense is being shoved down our throats - are these not 'the rest of us'?

I didn't realize, though, that you don't need a Mac to run Photo for OSX. That's a curious development - what I guess you mean is, all you need to buy (from Apple) is an iDevice, and they'll then own everything you do with it from that point onwards .. to the extent that they'll make it easy for you to gain access to your media/content. (Psst.. as long as you keep paying the subscription.)

Oh, and btw, I already pay a subscription for access to the Internet. Why can't I just use this to share my data, instead of needing an additional Cloud-fee to do the same task? I think people need to remove their blinkers here - we're being shafted with this Cloud culture blaring its horns.

I have a Mac. I want to share my media/content with the world. The Mac is perfectly capable of doing that - and I trust it more than any other computer in the world, because its sitting there, on my desk, in my house, under my lock and key, with my network equipment, passwords for which I control. I don't think this Cloud business has anywhere near that level of quality of service, and if only the OS vendors were aware of the demand for this sort of thing, they'd be building in peer-to-peer NAT traversal tools, sticking a nice GUI on top, and calling themselves real Operating System vendors again. Alas, this doesn't seem too hip these days, in the technology world ..

The thing is, no one is forcing you to use this solution. You can use your internet connection, install a HTTP server, and do whatever you want. When they start infringing on that, then yes, we have an issue.

Your DIY solution is still too complex for your average user.

Comments below address this except photos is a product across all of apples devices. This article just happened to be for the os x version.

I think you are overestimating how technically savvy most users are and how much people care about "control" over their personal data.

> Maybe this is more of a European thing, but the backlash against cloud computing is very much still in full force - there are people actually not buying computers because all this Cloud nonsense is being shoved down our throats - are these not 'the rest of us'?

I don't think the proportion of people not buying computers because of "all this Cloud nonsense" is that big, and to be honest, if they cared that much, they won't buy Apple devices with their locked down bootloaders. Apple never had those customers to begin with, and they seem to be doing fine without them.

> Why can't I just use this to share my data, instead of needing an additional Cloud-fee to do the same task? I think people need to remove their blinkers here - we're being shafted with this Cloud culture blaring its horns.

You can. You just have to do it yourself if you wanted that. Install a web server and some gallery software -- easy for most Hacker News readers, impossible for my grandma. Heck, she had a hard time understanding the concept of email. These users just want to take and share the latest photos they took, not figure out why NAT traversal doesn't work with their $20 Comcast-supplied router.

> Sorry, is ownership of your data not important? Is control over where and when your data is available, and by which means it is shared with the world, not important?

Again, to Hacker News readers, maybe. However, not to my grandma. She takes pictures of flowers and pets on her daily walk and shares it with her friends. Why does she care about "what means it is shared with the world" so long as her friends and family can see it?

> I don't think this Cloud business has anywhere near that level of quality of service, and if only the OS vendors were aware of the demand for this sort of thing, they'd be building in peer-to-peer NAT traversal tools, sticking a nice GUI on top, and calling themselves real Operating System vendors again.

For the average user, I would say that the cloud is much more reliable than whatever they can control themselves. I think if you allow people to run their own servers, you will find that things would be inaccessible and/or compromised most of time. Remember -- the average user manages to install all sorts of nasty adware and spyware on their own system unprompted, and I am not sure they are going to be much better at managing servers.

Before I bought my grandparents iPads, they used Windows PCs. Invariably, I will receive a call every couple of months asking me to debug their computer or router because they managed to screw it up one way or another. Now they do everything on iPads, and it is great for them (safer, easier to use) and great for me (no need to play tech support any more). iCloud Photos and the like are targeted at these people.

> I think my OSX machine is more than capable of serving my own personal cloud to me

Yep it sure is. That's why there are many software options available for exactly this purpose. It's your responsibility to use them if that's what you prefer.