I’m working on the same transition. I have Synology, Nextcloud photo;s and Photoprism set up and working just to see how they compare.
Would be very interested to hear your thoughts (maybe open a different topic?)
I thought the 
would make it obvious that my statement was an attempt at humor.
I trust Google mainly because I’ve been using their services for around 18 years and AFAIK never lost a file or an email. I can upload a file from my iPad and it will appear on my Mac and iPhone in a couple of seconds. And I can delete a file from the synced folders on my Mac and watch it disappear from my iPhone just as fast.
Knowing that their customers include Airbus, Verizon, and the City of Los Angels doesn’t hurt but the fact that they are HIPAA compliant tells me all I need to know.
I continue to recommend Google because I took the time to research it as well as Microsoft several years ago when my company was looking to replace our on premise email server.
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I’m still using iCloud and don’t plan to change for now. My Mac, for example, has very few files stored natively, and everything just goes to iCloud, including my desktop.
Edit: Strikethrough added as this is incorrect - follow up comment below.
Mostly for me it’s just ease. I’m already in their ecosystem, and I don’t want to pay yet another third party for a service.
I actually do have one folder that always gets stuck syncing and pretty much permanently has the little “needing to be synced” icon, but oddly the files in it seem fine and accessible. Not sure what’s going on there and I don’t care enough to investigate 
And that’s probably why so many people use iCloud Drive 
I wrote that comment before I went to shower and get on with my day, and I realised in the shower it is fundamentally wrong and misleading. Which just goes to show that most people use iCloud Drive because they have no idea what they’re doing, including me
It’s true that I have very few folders stored locally on my Mac. However, it is not true that this means the bulk of my files are on iCloud Drive, because I’m an idiot and one of the folders stored locally is DevonThink, where at least 70% of my files go, and likely far more.
It is therefore only fair to say that for me everything that never goes into DevonThink goes on to iCloud Drive, but in reality that’s a probably less than a third of the files I keep.
And to be honest, DevonThink is set up like that because they vehemently discourage storing your database on a cloud service. Had they not made this admonishment very visible and emphatic in all of their materials, I would’ve stuck DevonThink in iCloud too since that’s where I put everything before I became a DT user and I wouldn’t have known any better.
So in reality whilst I do use iCloud Drive and will continue to do so, I’m not a “power user” and most my work is stored on my own hard-drive because people far more knowledgeable than me told me to do that.
Also in Europe, but you can get a 1TB Nextcloud instance at Hetzner in Germany for €5,11/month.
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there may be use case that DT database needs to be in the cloud. In my case, my primary DT databases are in a Mac Mini which obviously is stationary. I want to sync all the databases to my 14"MBP so that when I am away from home, I have the most up-to-date information. Not sure using DT Cloudkit sync is the only way to do this. I would like to hear other suggestions
Syncing is different, the files should still be stored on a hard drive, they’re just syncing to other devices.
I use CloudKit to sync (also be aware CloudKit is different to iCloud Drive, they’re separate services though I think run on the same infrastructure. You cannot “see” stuff that’s syncing via CloudKit. It’s not like opening iCloud and there all your files are - you can’t see what happens with CloudKit). Anyway CloudKit is rubbish and has been unreliable for weeks now, so I certainly don’t recommend it and the DT developers don’t either. (I also suspect CloudKit is how Apple Notes syncs and as we know that’s also been rubbish for weeks now…)
DT recommend Bonjour for syncing devices on the same network, which I will probably switch to soon, and there are other options. There’s a section in the manual that explains different options and how to set them up. But, the files themselves will still reside on your Mac.
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In addition to the iCloud Drive method, various posts have described at least four different methods used by Apple behind the scenes to synchronize apps between devices, all called CloudKit. Syncing behavior with CloudKit-enabled apps varies depending upon the goals, designs, and skills of the developer behind each app. Also, at times, Apple’s infrastructure, or parts thereof, suffer outages and partial outages. All these factors affect the performance that we observe.
I think that CloudKit, with all these factors taken into consideration, works well for me.
I just checked my Dropbox account that I hardly ever log in to. Well, except to share a video or two, once in a blue moon.
I have 12.63GB of free space and my documents folder in iCloud is just over 3GB, so I could make the switch for free. I also only need it installed on 3 devices, so again, free works. Given all the scary stories on here and another on this week’s ATP podcast, and I’m thinking of moving over.
How do you use Google, under the DOD contract?!
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I’d be amazed if David, Stephen or the admins would expel anyone for telling the truth. They’re aware that Apple has it’s own challenges and deficiencies.
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I would think, that they would more likely make a bet, on how many storage the customer really use out of their 2TB available.
And I would expect, that the vast majority isn’t even close to the limit, so they spare a lot on the unused storage space.
Under the above consumption, it is way more likely, that more space out of the 2TB are in use, with more people using this plan.
You’ve not seen my Daughters’ photo libraries
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I saw an article from Google where it implied (but not outright stated) that their entire infrastructure was audited to DoD standards. Can’t put my hands on the link at the moment, but it’s one of those weasel-y marketing things that could’ve been taken as meaning “our entire cloud” or “our entire government cloud”. My bet is on the latter.
This section talks about auditing stuff.
Nope. Under a standard PEM contract.
Pay Each Month.
Marco Arment made a similar comment on ATP #516
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Indeed, this certainly seems confirmed by my experience. Apple support failed to call me back so I called them again. I’m scheduled for a follow-up with senior engineers on Monday. This has been a sad and frustrating experience.