PC Forum Eventspace - Users Make Content Their Own seems to have only part of the equation correct.

It seems that the commercial ventures only partly understand the Personal InfoCloud. The panel, as I read the excerpts, (Rob Glaser of Real Networks, Lisa Gansky of Ofoto and Shane Robison of HP) understand users creation of information as content creators. Having used Real products and Ofoto, they do not seems to fully get the personal management of the information very well. These products set barriers to reuse and have poor interaction design.

Lets look at Ofoto, which has a good business model to upload photos to share them and allow the user and their friends to make prints of the photos. The tools for photo management have a lot to be desired. The tools only permit management of the photos for Ofoto's use. Users want more management than these uses. I have been frustrated with photos that have gone missing in Ofoto albums.

The tools do not allow the user to manage information across devices. Moving digital media easily from PC to handheld and to the Web easily and seamlessly should be the goal. This transfer of digital media and content is the idea behind the Personal InfoCloud. This is what keeps the users from using devices and technology in general to help their lives.

Maybe next years PC Forum will focus on better understanding the Personal InfoCloud. In the Great Weird Ideas notes Brett Fausett's ideas on Personal Data for Personal Services is on target with the Personal InfoCloud.