I evangelize cloud computing in this blog and, also, in my professional life. I can't do justice to my evangelism if I don't use them myself. In fact, I use cloud based apps in both my professional life and personal one. Our company in India is totally virtual and all the employees (there are five of them now) work together using cloud based technologies. In short, I live in the clouds. I thought, I will share my cloud strategy in this space. As a part of this, I will be writing a series of posts reviewing different cloud based apps I use in my digital lifestyle.

I use the following guidelines when I select one app provider over the other. Again, I want to emphasize that these are my personal preferences and there is no fool proof way to select a provider. Also, read my post about the questions you should ask a cloud vendor before trusting your data.

1. Reliability of the provider: Before I trust my data with a cloud provider, I want to make sure that the provider will be there for a long haul. I check the "About Us" or "Contact Us" page to make sure that there is a physical address associated with the provider. Having a telephone number in the contacts page is a big plus. I also check if they have any information about the management team and if anyone in the team is a well known person in the techbiz field. Though it is not a essential criteria for me, I try to gather as much information about the company before I trust my data with them.
2. Security: I check their website, including FAQ pages, to make sure that they have implemented security correctly and to my satisfaction. When I put the data out there in the clouds, I want to have the best possible security and there can be no compromises on this.
3. Data Portability: I will trust a provider with my data only if they offer an easy way for me to export my data in an open standards based format. This is very vital for me because I don't want a cloud provider to take my data hostage. If any provider offers to export the data in a proprietary format, it doesn't cut ice with me. I want it in an open standards based format so that I can take my data along with me wherever I go.
4. Multi-OS Support: I use different OS on my different machines. So I want a client which will work across many different OSes.
5. Mobile Support: The greatest advantage of putting my data in the clouds is its near ubiquitous availability. In order to tap on this unique property of cloud computing, I would like the cloud vendor to release a mobile app to access my data from anywhere.
6. Ownership of Data: The first thing I check before trusting my data with a cloud vendor is their Terms of Service. If any cloud vendor tells me that they will assume the ownership of any data we entrust in their clouds, I just close my browser tab and move on. Only I own my data and no one else can claim any ownership to that data.
7. Ease of Use: The app should be easy to use even for a layman.

These are the absolute essential requirements for me before I trust my data with a cloud vendor. I would also like to see the following two features incorporated though they are not part of the essential requirements.

• OpenID: I would prefer to have openID based login so that I can use the same identity over all the different apps. 
• Opensource: This is a long shot and it is based entirely on my personal beliefs. I will feel very confident if the vendor releases the source code of the app under one of the OSI approved licenses. Apart from the actual benefits of Opensource, I can also be sure that I will still be able to use the app even if the cloud vendor goes out of business. Wordpress, Wikidot, Deki Wiki, etc. are examples of cloud based apps available as opensource.

The idea behind this post is to share my experience as a consumer of cloud computing services. Everyone has their own requirements and philosophy while selecting a cloud vendor. There is no single approach that can be considered as a correct approach. However, I hope that this series serves as a good starting point for the newcomers planning to enter the clouds.