How it started

Well, where to begin? Maybe with this: i'm no IT specialist in the professional sense. I'm more of a passionate DIY, i build my own PCs and i'm doing this since my first computer, the Commodore C16. So i try to keep myself up-to-date with the whole computer theme. Which led to me realising something:
 

The Cloud is dying

Okay, i admit, maybe a little overly dramatic but let us take a closer look at it and where the problem for private users are, shall we?

• Does your data belong to you?

We use Google Cloud, Microsoft OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox and other cloud services. Convenient, all your data always with you. But what about privacy? What keeps these companies from using your data? They already do use it for purposes you probably didn't gave your consent. Your data is useful to train AI and it is already used for this. Also for advertisement, i'm sure this isn't exactly new to you. And while the EULA maybe assures you that your data isn't accessed by the company, they can change these EULA at any time. Remember, if something is free, you're not the consumer, you're the product. Data has a value and you give them yours on a daily basis.

• Is your privacy secure?

In the past, governments tried to force companies to implement backdoors to have easy access to encrypted user data. And those companies mostly caved in. Nobody knows exactly which government can access to which data to what extent. Would you bet on it that your data isn't scanned? I wouldn't hold that bet. Always remember: the "cloud" isn't a fancy wonderland in the sky, it is a computer managed by a company overlooked by their respective government. So tell me: is your privacy secure?

• How about hackers?

Cloud services are a hackers wet dream: the data of millions all in one place. With a single hack on one of those big players, data of millions of people exposed, accessible to people who might not be kind. Pictures, documents, possible sensible data, all exposed to strangers and you'll be lucky if they just delete it. Did it already happen? We can't tell for sure. Ransom might have been paid already and we just didn't hear of it. The reputation damage alone would be devastating, so such information would most likely kept under the hood.

Homeserver to the rescue

If only it were that simple. But in general, yeah, that is the way to go if you want back the control over your data.

• Setting up a server is tedious

To put it mildly. While the hardware is quite easy as it doesn't require server grade hardware, a old PC can be repurposed to work as a private cloud server, the software part is the key point. The options alone can be intimidating. Do you use one of the existing NAS operating systems? There are quite a few good, solid options available, no doubt there. Beginner friendly? Not so much. Or you could use a Linux as base and install and setup services as you need them. Not too complicated, if you're used to manage servers already, that is.

So how do we solve this?

It needs a cloudserver that is as easy to setup and manage as your microwave oven. Plug it in and after 5 minutes it is ready to use. It can be done, just no one did it. Until now.