Poll: Do you work with a cloud-based CAT tool?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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May 1, 2017

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you work with a cloud-based CAT tool?".

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Ana Vozone
Ana Vozone  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:42
Member (2010)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Yes, my clients'... May 1, 2017

I own CAT tools (Trados and Studio) which I use in my computer, but am also using my clients' cloud-based CAT Tools (WordBee and Wordfast). I (sort of) enjoy them as part of my CPD requirements and my own (self-imposed) need to learn. Challenging at times, particularly when combined with shared documents on Google Drive, etc.

 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 12:42
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
No May 1, 2017

I don't see any advantage in them, and some of my clients have asked me not to.
It is partly a security matter. My CAT functions fine offline, probably faster.

We are making ourselves more and more vulnerable as we become totally dependent on centralised facilities. On our walks we pass farms in the country - and my husband used to live on one - where, fifty years ago, people could manage for a week or more without problems if they were snowed in, and for quite a while if the
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I don't see any advantage in them, and some of my clients have asked me not to.
It is partly a security matter. My CAT functions fine offline, probably faster.

We are making ourselves more and more vulnerable as we become totally dependent on centralised facilities. On our walks we pass farms in the country - and my husband used to live on one - where, fifty years ago, people could manage for a week or more without problems if they were snowed in, and for quite a while if the electricity was cut off. Nowadays we can't even make a cup of coffee unless we happen to have camping equipment or a barbecue.

It's called progress...
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Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:42
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I avoid it as much as I can May 1, 2017

First of all, I don't like the idea of having TBs and Tms in a cloud. However protected they might be or claimed to be, they will still be "available" for hackers.

Also, they are usually very bad as compared to your local CAT, plus you can't use your own TM (some clouds allow you to upload it, which I'll never do).

So, when a client offers me a job in a cloud CAT, most of the time I refuse it, unless I'm short in jobs.


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 11:42
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No, thank you! May 1, 2017

Cloud

Cats


 
Ana Vozone
Ana Vozone  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:42
Member (2010)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Not necessarily unsafe... May 1, 2017

And if the TM and CAT tool is owned/managed by the Client, why should we worry about safety?

For some jobs, I simply download the client's original text, translate it with my own TM and paste it back.

I also find that the TM's are not necessarily 'very bad' (as Mario mentioned): in fact, they can be quite good and much 'richer' than my own...

So, I do not own any cloud-based CAT Tools, I do not plan to get one, but I use my clients' and quite enjoy all the
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And if the TM and CAT tool is owned/managed by the Client, why should we worry about safety?

For some jobs, I simply download the client's original text, translate it with my own TM and paste it back.

I also find that the TM's are not necessarily 'very bad' (as Mario mentioned): in fact, they can be quite good and much 'richer' than my own...

So, I do not own any cloud-based CAT Tools, I do not plan to get one, but I use my clients' and quite enjoy all the things I learn in the process.
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Wilsonn Perez Reyes
Wilsonn Perez Reyes  Identity Verified
El Salvador
Local time: 05:42
Member (2007)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Cats May 1, 2017

Teresa Borges wrote:

Cats


Too bad. I used to hate cats, but now I adore them.


 
Huw Watkins
Huw Watkins  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:42
Member (2005)
Italian to English
+ ...
Back up and CATs on the Cloud May 1, 2017

All my work, TMs, TBs, files and even emails are backed up to the cloud for security purposes. I use a combo of onedrive (for the office applications and generous space at a relatively competitive price) and Dropbox for incremental backing up of my outlook email pst file. This has saved me losing all my work more than once. That's all one aspect.

On the other side, I do accommodate clients when they need me to log onto their portals, to use their TMs and to collaborate on large proj
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All my work, TMs, TBs, files and even emails are backed up to the cloud for security purposes. I use a combo of onedrive (for the office applications and generous space at a relatively competitive price) and Dropbox for incremental backing up of my outlook email pst file. This has saved me losing all my work more than once. That's all one aspect.

On the other side, I do accommodate clients when they need me to log onto their portals, to use their TMs and to collaborate on large projects. I will not upload my own TMs however, not least to avoid breach of confidentiality, but also because I don't want to give my work away for free like that.

Memsource is one I have used, as is SDL Trados Studio in a virtual desktop environment, and I often also connect into server TMs and TBs from my own CAT locally. That last option is nice as you have the flexibility of adding your own TM and TB resources to the project without sharing them, whilst using the client's mandatory TMs.

[Edited at 2017-05-01 12:21 GMT]
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Ikram Mahyuddin
Ikram Mahyuddin  Identity Verified
Indonesia
Local time: 18:42
English to Indonesian
+ ...
Yes May 1, 2017

If the clients ask for it, of course.

 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:42
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
No May 1, 2017

Mario Freitas wrote:

First of all, I don't like the idea of having TBs and Tms in a cloud. However protected they might be or claimed to be, they will still be "available" for hackers.


I don't use the Cloud at all.

As Mario says, they claim to be protected. But one of Germany's largest Internet & Phone provider claimed that too, then was hacked and a lot of the data was stolen. So it's thank you, but no thank you.


 
Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 12:42
English to German
Sometimes May 1, 2017

... with the proprietary cloud tool of one particular client because I knew the PM in person long before the Cloud was invented, and she's worth it. (Still hate the tool, but she does, too.)

I also like RAT tools (rodent-aided translation), and they seem to be a good countermeasure aga
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... with the proprietary cloud tool of one particular client because I knew the PM in person long before the Cloud was invented, and she's worth it. (Still hate the tool, but she does, too.)

I also like RAT tools (rodent-aided translation), and they seem to be a good countermeasure against the Cloud: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/01/whos-winning-the-cyber-war-the-squirrels-of-course/
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Poll: Do you work with a cloud-based CAT tool?






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