What's astonishing is how little attention Apple is . That's a shame, because Apple could deliver a kick up the derriere that cloud computing really needs right now.

To be fair, there is some cloud integration in Mac OS X. Apple's and calendar and address book syncing. But MobileMe is more about sharing data between different Apple products. It doesn't encourage collaborative working, for example.

And that's a shame because, as with every other aspect of computing it turns its hands to, Apple could demonstrate how can be done simply and effectively.

There are arguably two roadblocks cloud computing has to overcome. The first is usability. What's the best way to work in the cloud? Google reckons we should or its , which is essentially an overblown Web browser. However, this is a clumsy approach.

Secondly, people are . By its very definition, the Internet is a publically accessible network, and operates on the principle of folks having instant access to data stored there. How can we be sure that a stranger won't end up with our personal data once we embrace the cloud?