# Needed: Explanation of "The Cloud" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 9, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-explanation-of-the-cloud/566935 "2011-01-09T01:18:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-explanation-of-the-cloud/566935/21 "2011-01-10T01:20:54Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Well, your data is safe from loss, in that the ‘cloud’ company probably is more careful about backups than most of us are. > > But it’s no safer against theft – identity theft, credit card number theft, etc. Probably less safe, since a big ‘cloud’ company is a more attractive target for hackers or thieves than your little PC. Despite the security efforts of these companies, there are regular reports of thousands of credit card numbers being compromised at one of these companies. Often by rouge employees or contractors. > > So “safe” is rather nebulous here. And don’t forget viruses and malware. They’re coming to a cloud near you. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-explanation-of-the-cloud/566935/22 "2011-01-10T03:39:20Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > …Often by **rouge** employees or contractors. Those are the worst kind 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-explanation-of-the-cloud/566935/23 "2011-01-10T05:03:09Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > Those are the worst kind 🙂 Yeah, I got an image of some CEO at Mary Kay going “Arrrgh! Not _again!_”, sweating over a pile of lawsuits. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-explanation-of-the-cloud/566935/24 "2011-01-10T17:05:27Z")
The big “Cloud” commercials right now (“Yay cloud!”) are for Microsoft actually (i.e., your laptop can talk to your desktop at home, yay!). IBM seems to be on a “our employees are super-geniuses” campaign lately. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-explanation-of-the-cloud/566935/25 "2011-01-10T17:28:37Z")
> [@IAmNotSpartacus](#): > > The cloud synergizes collaborative architectural platforms on a decentralized platform, leveraging bleeding edge game changing applications across content delivery networks. Excellent. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-explanation-of-the-cloud/566935/26 "2011-01-10T18:21:29Z")
> [@IAmNotSpartacus](#): > > The cloud synergizes collaborative architectural platforms on a decentralized platform, leveraging bleeding edge game changing applications across content delivery networks. You forgot “turnkey” and “enterprise.” ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-explanation-of-the-cloud/566935/27 "2011-01-10T18:31:09Z")
> [@IAmNotSpartacus](#): > > The cloud synergizes collaborative architectural platforms on a decentralized platform, leveraging bleeding edge game changing applications across content delivery networks. Since I’m not there in person, please find someone to punch you in the face. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-explanation-of-the-cloud/566935/28 "2011-01-10T18:36:48Z")
> [@IAmNotSpartacus](#): > > The cloud synergizes collaborative architectural platforms on a decentralized platform, leveraging bleeding edge game changing applications across content delivery networks. I could feel my paradigms being shifted as I read this. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-explanation-of-the-cloud/566935/29 "2011-01-10T20:03:54Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > There are few truly new ideas in computer technology. Things that sound very similar to cloud technology have been around since mainframes were invented. However, it is all about the details and implementation which is why I believe that the cloud concept is different than all of the similar ideas in the past. > > It isn’t just forgoing your own server to rent one somewhere in Asia where it is cheaper. The best parts of the cloud mean that you can access your applications and data from many different types of devices from desktops to smart phones and you don’t need to worry about where the servers are physically located anywhere in the world. Enterprise cloud computing would also include globally distributed failover protection and the data being stored in different places so you don’t have to worry about losing your data because of a fire or flood in a local server room. It is all protected and distributed and this is a very big deal to larger businesses. The cloud also means that you can dynamically scale up or scale down computing power and bandwidth based on demand because it is shared. In other words, it is a highly abstracted system on both the server and client side, i.e. you neither have a central mainframe or cluster, nor do you have dedicated terminals. The user can access applications or data from a common cross-platform interface, and where the data is stored or computation performed is determined automatically by “the cloud” without bothering the user about the details. This is vastly different than a dedicated client-server architecture like a an IBM mainframe and 3270 terminals in that you can seamlessly port your abstraction layer to a new device and then run clients “natively”; or load your abstraction layer on new “servers” and distribute data or computation to them without having to build a new server-side application from the hardware up. This is obviously a very idealized marketing version, but as **Shagnasty** says, the difference between cloud computing and previous efforts at abstraction is that the technology on both sides, as well as the communication infrastructure and protocols that serve as the medium–are now approaching a degree of maturity such that the practical applications of the system are converging with the marketing hype. Unlike machine cognition–which we are nearly as far from today as we were in, say, 1968–highly distributed heterogeneous computing is a practical reality and is becoming more accessible and less expensive by leaps and bounds. The scalar supercomputer has died not because of physical or thermodynamic applications, but because it is cheaper and easier to distribute most types of problems across a network of commodity-grade machines. > [@IAmNotSpartacus](#): > > The cloud synergizes collaborative architectural platforms on a decentralized platform, leveraging bleeding edge game changing applications across content delivery networks. “Bingo!” Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-explanation-of-the-cloud/566935.md?page=1)