If you work on the internet, have spent a vast amount of time stumbling or surfing its pages or have seen Microsoft’s television commercials recently, you probably have heard of The Cloud. From their witty, silly and memorable commercials about being bored in an airport, copying and pasting imperfect photos together for the perfect family photo, and sharing special and comical childhood moments with family and friends.
But What is The Cloud?
The cloud is actually just a little nickname or aggregation for cloud computing. Cloud computing is something that people are using daily if they are using the internet or a database for work or for pleasure. Cloud computing is actually the resources required by a computer network, such as databases, applications, e-mails, and files, that are accessed by a consumer or customer from a separate location such as a home or business.
Oftentimes there is no software or data requirements for the consumer or customer in order to obtain the information from the cloud, requirements might include a web browser or a minimal operating system. Plus, cloud computing reduces the cost of maintenance and resources for customers and consumers because they are using a shared resource from a distance and therefore do not have to deal with hardware, software or technical issues; thus freeing the customer and consumer from mundane hassles that might prevent workflow or internet surfing capacities.
The image diagram below, from Wikipedia, might help with understanding what cloud computing really means. As you can see from the image, there are various computers that are connecting to The Cloud at one time and they are all able to share information and obtain information simultaneously.