Call me old fashioned. but I really am not concerned or interested in "Cloud Computing" I do not want to be able to access my data and information stored on a server somewhere and be linked to one of the two companies products.I can access my information anywhere in the world just by using a nas box, so all my info is accessible and secure.
The whole PC world is one of choice and as such the variety of software available is tremendous. We can by hard format media to install or download media, From Utility Apps to Word Processing and even games, why limit to these two "Cloud Systems" cause once loads of your stuff is on there its a monster to change if you dont like it.
The market has invented Hgh EndMini Super Computers to lttle Netbooks capable of the most used modern tasks necessary to get by, so why do we need cloud computing. Accessing your information of the internet irrelevant of which PC you use does seem cool, but this can already be done without cloud computing, I have all my fav applications running of a 4gb USB drive and can write all my Documents/spreadsheets, answer emails and view and save my bookmarks in my favorite browser all of the usb key, Which works on any pc. And to boot its secure in the way having your data online will never be ITS in my hands.
As for gaming being streamed across from central servers to our machines, Not here in the UK for MANY MANY MANY years as there is no infrastructure even being proposed that could cope with that kind of bandwidth necessary. I mean, the latencies would have to be so minute as to where you move your mouse is where your cross hairs should be displayed in real time, and we suffer from lag now already lol, not likely for a long time.
VMWare is a far better idea for Business to use, but is not a working solution for the home/power user. Cloud sounds good but there are better, more secure solutions out there also cost free with better peace of mind.