Cloud computing

So what is cloud computing?

A recent Sydney Morning Herald article, Computing pushes into the ether, by Conrad Walters, explains the term.

We've all had our head in the clouds at some point but, increasingly, our data is taking up residence there as well. In a major trend known as "cloud computing", the internet is becoming the repository for files and even software.


Cloud computing may be an unfamiliar term but many people use it without even thinking about it. The most obvious examples are email services such as Hotmail or Gmail. Messages and the underlying software exist in the ether of "the cloud" rather than on your hard drive, as was usually the case a few years ago.

Of course we're only talking about a conceptual cloud here. All your data is in reality sitting on a storage server ... somewhere.

Read more of the pros and cons on the link above.