Is I.T. life without " The Cloud " possible ?

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I am trying to hang on to some sort 'privacy' by keeping my personal information on my own devices rather than sending it all out into the multiverse on that lovely fluffy white thing hanging in the sky ( a mega server ! )
I am constantly being plaguaged with instructions to enroll with the cloud, and problems with my live.com account.
Can any of you tech' savvy people out there tell me if 'Cloud' enrollment is essential and inevitable ?

It does offer the advantage of being able to access your stuff from anywhere you are, as long as you've got an internet connection and the service providers don't let you down.

Me, I've only bothered using the cloud to familiarise myself with how to use it, never for anything serious or private in any way. I get a long way by carrying flash drives with me on my travels. A lot of programs can be got in portable form so more or less any Windows device can be used to run them. Flash drives are private as long as you don't lose them, and you can always encrypt things in case you do. Not that a lost flash drive is all that likely to fall into evil hands. Some individual might take a look, but they'd probably decide the files aren't worth anything, and reformat the whole thing. Even so, it's likely wise to refrain from putting files on there that could be used against you, like banking login details. Or if you must put such files on the drive, obfuscate and encrypt them to reduce the risks. All in all, probably safer than uploading the data into cyberspace. And obviously, it's wise to keep a backup of all your data elsewhere, whether the "original" is on a flash drive or in cyberspace. Drives can die.

Some programs these days are cloud-only, often as a way of getting users to pay a monthly subscription, so I just don't bother with those. It's very rare I pay for a program anyway. I just keep using freeware, mostly quite old freeware.

It is possible, I have my own personal cloud that is in my cupboard. That's where all my files live and I can access them securely from anywhere, and my calendar is on there. It also hosts a minecraft server and streams video and music to all my devices.

You can even host your own email server but I don't do that. It's easier to use something like Protonmail if you want privacy.

But to host your own cloud you'll need to learn about servers, relevant operating systems, cloud hosting software and security certificates and port forwarding and all kinds of exciting stuff.

I think, unless you were particularly interested in that stuff, you probably wouldn't bother.

Unfortunately, the tech industry has decided that the cloud is the way forward and they're going to push everyone to use it as much as possible.

Currently it's mainly files but increasingly processing will be done on remote servers, applications will be 'served', not running on your own computer. The goal, if you talk to big tech, is 'Everything as a Service' (EaaS).

You can resist for a while but eventually you'll be forced to comply!

everything is possible given enough time and money.

google:
"airgap" "linux" "hardening"

One such article:
https://security.stackexchange.com/ques ... mputer-use

If you are not really good with computers, or don't want the trouble . . . turn it off and read a good book.

Not having room for a CAD station in my flat, I've considered using the cloud, but just how secure is it? The thoroughness with which I've been hacked lately, suggests the perps would find a way to screw with such work, too.