OwnCloud is an open source software package that lets you store, access and sync data across the Internet on a server that you control rather than having to rely on Google, Dropbox or any number of other cloud-based services.
OwnCloud’s server software requires PHP5 and MySQL, which means it will run on many web hosting services out there. Lifehacker has a nice walkthrough of the installation process.
OwnCloud appears to be actively updated and has a community that has added a number of apps and plugins that allow it to be used for task management, as a media streaming service, etc.
The one thing that OwnCloud is still missing is file encryption. OwnCloud can be configured to use SSL to encrypt data that is being transferred back and forth between the server and clients, but the files stored within OwnCloud itself are not encrypted. This means if someone hacked your server, they would have access to your files.
Almost all cloud-based systems, including Google Drive and Dropbox, also store your files without encrypting them, but it would be nice to see encryption as an option here. This still leaves something like Spider Oak as the best alternative for cloud-based syncing and storage that also encrypts files.
Before you went all-in on something like OwnCloud, you would also want to ensure you understand your web host provider’s limits and policies on monthly bandwidth very well. For example, this blog is run on a dedicated server and the contract I have with my provider allows me to transfer up to 3 terabytes of data per month. Typically the actual amount of data I use falls somewhere between 25gb to 100gb per month. If I started using something like OwnCloud, that would usage rise dramatically and I’d need to monitor my usage to make sure I don’t that cap and risk being charged extra fees.
Given how companies like Google, Microsoft and Dropbox rarely have their users’ best interests in mind, however, it is good to see that there are open source alternatives that can still route around them if needed.