I guess I had become so used to NAT it just seemed the natural order of things. I do think the security is still a major issue but then I like building my servers as if they are alone on the Internet so it makes sense
And yes, a good point about the reliability of cloud services - but still at 50 bucks for 2 TB and iCloud costing me 20 bucks a month I think Shared infrastructure savings have a long way to go !
Large capacity media servers are something I think makes sense as a home appliance. I also think that if people end up willing to put their money where their mouths are that there will be a market for devices that provide cloud like services with the privacy of local hardware.
Re: security. Cloud services aren't doing a lot better. They are repeatedly broken into and have huge password lists stolen, many have governments have direct programs for extracting datas from them, and someone else can call up their customer support reps and practically ask for your password. Many effective security best practices amount to obscurity (change ssh port number). Large central services are very attractive and lucrative to hack.
And yes, a good point about the reliability of cloud services - but still at 50 bucks for 2 TB and iCloud costing me 20 bucks a month I think Shared infrastructure savings have a long way to go !