Cloud Computing

So what is it?

The term is mentioned at work, in meetings, documents and general conversation. It turns up in all the IT magazines, on IT websites, and I've seen pie charts with a breakdown of prospective spending on it.

It's referred to so often that a person can feel a fool for not understanding it - How come I've missed the definition document!

Is it an application delivery model? i.e. Software as a Service (SaaS).

Is it an internet delivered, web application and service building mechanism? i.e. Platform as a Service (PaaS).

Is it storage delivery or a repository for your data?

As there isn't a definition I expect we have to wait and see what the big companies claiming to be using Cloud Computing are doing with it to get a feel, but there's no substitute for definitions and standards.

I don't know what it is but I get the impression that it is a pool of flexible, on-demand resource, to be used for whatever purpose by an organisation. And how vague is that!

Richard Stallman isn't keen.