Responsible Hosting Of Cloud Services

Springpad, an Evernote-like service for storing information in a distributed manner, announced it’s closure a few weeks ago. Storing important data in the cloud seems a bit risky. However, Springpad is doing an excellent job of providing ways to export your data. Evernote migration is even being supported, allowing a very easy migration path.

For now I’m moving all that data over to Evernote. I personally follow a rule that any cloud-provider needs to provide an easy way to export their data in the event that they do close down. Evernote allows export of individual notes into HTML or PDF, and even supports exporting all your notes into an XML file. Google also does a decent job with the data liberation group and Google Takeout. However, such tools don’t help if your cloud provider goes out of business without considering their user’s data.

Other cloud services should follow Springpad’s example and provide plans to allow users to export their data, with enough company capital in reserves to keep the site up for enough time to do so. Springpad has provided 30 days, and several email reminders has shown themselves as good stewards. It is a service that will be missed.