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Microsoft limits institutional cloud storage space for environmental reasons

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Re: Microsoft limits institutional cloud storage space for environmental reasons

#61

It is all about money.

It always is. Now that a significant percentage of the population religiously believes in climate change, it can be used as an authority argument for whatever prince increase or service reduction from corporations, and new taxes and regulations from governments. And most people will either welcome them or won't have the balls to go against the grain by fear of being labeled a climate skeptics. Genius play.

Re: Microsoft limits institutional cloud storage space for environmental reasons

#62
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I don't feel the sacrifice. My house is flooded with old chargers. They're in a bin like old legos. The e-waste related to including chargers in the box is a real thing. That change also allowed them to halve the size of the boxes, effectively doubling the shipping yield. On a billion-device level that's a non-trivial change. And yes, it's good for their bottom line. And yes, it effectively increased the pri…

If that was the genuine intent, they would have deducted the price to buy one from the device, but that never happens, so allow me to be skeptical of the reason.

The two things can go hand in hand.

Re: Microsoft limits institutional cloud storage space for environmental reasons

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sucks for me, yes. So what? Keep living with attitude like that, eventually you’ll realize.

Honestly I've lived in countries (Korea) that have recycling programs that are a kafkaesque nightmare where you literally have to peel the plastic off a tissue box to recycle both the plastic and the paper, and if you don't, you have neighbors who dig through your trash to snitch on you, pushing a fat fine down your throat. That, I cannot tolerate. I'm a big fan of tackling the low hanging fruit of recycling and wast…

Yeah. There is a reason why “recycle” comes third after “reduce” (which this does) and “reuse” (which this promotes).

Re: Microsoft limits institutional cloud storage space for environmental reasons

#64
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a valid criticism. The only thing that usb-c got right as a standard was the symmetrical shape.

Just like mobile phones had in '90s.

Outside of barrel plugs, I don’t remember any 90s phone having a symmetrical connector of any sort.

Re: Microsoft limits institutional cloud storage space for environmental reasons

#66
post #47

On the Microsoft page[1] about this change they say > Storage of this “dark” data takes up space on servers and results in increased electricity consumption, generating 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 alone. Where "dark" data is data that is unused. However they link to this World Economic Forum Page [2] which says > In 2020, digitisation was purported to generate 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.…

I wonder why they've not instead pushed people towards a 'real' cold storage service like AWS Glacier. IIRC that uses a mixture of DVD/Bluray automation and for deep storage uses LTO tape drives. Solves most of the energy usage issues.

Re: Microsoft limits institutional cloud storage space for environmental reasons

#67

Just a philosophical question, that I think is on topic, I wonder how many cloud services will have to give people unpleasant experiences for those same people to stop going all in on cloud services, especially in the era of we reserve the right to change the terms and conditions without notice at our discretion At this point I’m not even mad with Microsoft

imo its more of a question of time than quality. Rarely, but not never (e.g. Unity), does the frog jump out of the pot. Popular ways of doing things[0] always come in phases as people with fonder opinions of 'the other way of doing things' come into relative power. Couple that with dogmatism-driven 'leadership'[1] and change only really occurs with the changing of the guard.[2]

So to answer your question, I would guess about 4-6 more years.

[0]Cloud vs on prem, monolith vs micro service, functional vs OOP, to name a few.

[1]I've priced some cloud that cost more in six months than on prem hardware and still gotten push back.

[2]Somewhat morosely, "[Things] advance one funeral at a time"

Re: Microsoft limits institutional cloud storage space for environmental reasons

#68
post #47

On the Microsoft page[1] about this change they say > Storage of this “dark” data takes up space on servers and results in increased electricity consumption, generating 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 alone. Where "dark" data is data that is unused. However they link to this World Economic Forum Page [2] which says > In 2020, digitisation was purported to generate 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.…

_Purported_. By, this source[0]. Which doesn't cite the source and seems to impute "blockchain" into this total somehow, and was focused on 2020, a year in which corona virus changed a lot of digital trends temporarily.

To the extent that the changes become permanent, they probably lead, working from home, to a far greater reduction in useless greenhouse emissions than the data ever could.

It's not only misleading it's just detached from reality.

[0] https://www.ey.com/en_ch/decarbonization/how-digitization-ac...

Re: Microsoft limits institutional cloud storage space for environmental reasons

#69
I'm a non-violent person who loves animals (well, to a degree... not a vegan), but every time I see horse shit like "environmental reasons" within a context that is completely nonsensical (like here), or when unhinged (but given platform to) people call farming "ecocide", I makes me want to burn a forest with all the creatures in it. Actually no, it doesn't, because all of these actors have ulterior motives and they actually don't give a rat's ass.

Re: Microsoft limits institutional cloud storage space for environmental reasons

#70
This is where the emerging field of research data management and digital preservation come into play.

Reproducibility and vetting research output, as well as other forms of accountability requires research data to be present and available. Hence the requirement to safeguard that data. However, a personal share hosted on institutional cloud storage isn't the best place to store research data for lack of accessibility, discoverability, etc.

McGill does offer research data management services. [1] These services are meant to guide researchers as well as cooperate with them working towards long term archival solutions and policies for safeguarding research data.

[1] https://www.mcgill.ca/drs/rdm

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