What is cloud?
 

When someone is talking about "the cloud" in reference to computing, what does it mean to you?

I'm curious to see what everyone says, as there is always such a wide variety of answers since the term is thrown around so much these days!

I can assure you that I am at least as annoyed as you that people misuse the term all the time.


A cloud service must always be accessed from the internet.

A cloud service must always be shared by multiple companies.

"Mysterious" is probably a good term and probably why it was called cloud in the first place. Noone needs to know exactly what goes on, just that it does.

I agree with the first, but not the second.

Well I personally think a true cloud service needs to be hosted on multiple servers across multiple datacentres (in multiple locations). So it can be accessed from anywhere and is robust enough to survive a failure or two. So Gmail is an example of a cloud service.

Unfortunately most of the cloud services my clients use don't have enough redundancy built in and their infrastructure seems to be generally close to bursting point. As they seem to go down on a regular basis (with the exception of Google which I personally have never noticed going down).

A fancy name for what is essentially and has always been the internet or a large corporate Network.

A Cloud is simply an environment where applications or data is kept remotely rather then being on your local PC.


I disagree. A cloud doesn't necessarily need to be on the internet. It can be all on a local network where you have a server/client relationship. For example, you have a company that uses terminal servers to run the software and the local computers connect to it via a thin client. This can be done within a single company.

Beat me to it.

Valid addition to my list

It isn't.

Cloud computing is simply a data storage platform that is available outside of your local network.

"The cloud" is like the internet, there are many different parts to it.

Basically personal, business, or corporate data that can be accessed anywhere in the world through the common network that spans across the globe in every nation and doesn't have to be stored locally.

The cloud? Free porn of course, and I still get all wet.

"cloud" is the contemporary buzzword for thin client computing.

Not to go all hipster on this but before cloud existed we called it Thin Client http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo.../confused1.gif

Edit:Damnit Blackstar. That'll teach me to go off and make a coffee in the middle of a post.

e:f;b http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif

Thin client is one of the services that can be hosted in the cloud.

The cloud (I actually hate calling it that) is basically a combination of thin client computing and offsite online data backup, with a few extras thrown in. But sure, it's basically just a catchy term for old technology. That's how we usually get mass adoption though.

its where rain comes from and the stat puff marshmellow guy lives

What he said ^