I have just recently heard of cloud computing. Yes I have read the "newbies questions" thread, but I am wondering what the basic presence of "the cloud" is. I have heard that it is sort of like renting server-side programs, but most likely im wrong.
What is a "cloud"?
Archived thread 1616579 from Ubuntu Cloud and Juju. Markdown source: Ubuntu_Cloud_and_Juju/thread_1616579_What_is_a_"cloud".md
Cloud Computing refers to web based applications. A simple example would be Gmail, Hotmail, and any web-based email system. The key is that they are server side, accessed by a web browser, and exist in a Cloud Storage medium.
It is also used to refer to a decentralized, redundant storage solution called Cloud Storage. You send your data to the "Cloud" and it exists in several locations at once, being served to people who need it by the closest server to their location.
Clouds can be public or private and do not necessarily need to be internet connected, though doing so really impacts the function of the cloud computing platform. If you have a private, off-line cloud it is basically a server farm.
Wiki has a nice article on it too.
Thanks Calash for your reply
Thanks again, very clear answer...
Incidently I had written a blog post about the topic. You may want to read more at http://foss-boss.blogspot.com/2010/11/cloud-computing-101.html http://foss-boss.blogspot.com/2010/11/cloud-computing-101-p2.html