> If I try to view this from a non-technical persons viewpoint, this shift has been transformative, really. Most folks don't care if their data has been transcoded a million times as long as its still useful and easily accessible.
Until they try to print their photos for the family album and discover that pictures taken by their high-end camera or an expensive iPhone were degraded by successive transcodings to the point they look like garbage in print, and at that point there's no way to fix it.
> This has protected a ton of businesses and users from being at the mercy of their IT team.
And put them at the mercy of third-party vendors. It's a trade-off, but having a local IT team has its benefits.
Until they try to print their photos for the family album and discover that pictures taken by their high-end camera or an expensive iPhone were degraded by successive transcodings to the point they look like garbage in print, and at that point there's no way to fix it.
> This has protected a ton of businesses and users from being at the mercy of their IT team.
And put them at the mercy of third-party vendors. It's a trade-off, but having a local IT team has its benefits.