The term Cloud Computing is being tossed around more then a hacky sack at a Grateful Dead concert. Its usage is approaching the plethora of “Baby on Board” signs that graced U. S. automobiles in years past. Currently the service is used to describe almost everything related to client server computing, which essentially is its origin.

In the early years of computing there were massive mainframe systems (big fat computers) that had terminals wired to them and all the keystrokes and interfacing on the screen only served to connect and perform work on the main computer itself. This meant the box you used to do the work was “dumb.” These main frames were shared by many people who used them simultaneously. The personal computer changed all that with the PC taking the place of these behemoths and allowing computing power only previously available in mainframes to be available to ordinary users at home and no longer ensconced in the ivory towers of large corporations, research labs and universities. Software came in boxes and was installed on the PC for direct use. Democratization of technology had begun.

Now the pendulum swung back and with the advent of high speed data lines, growth of the internet and falling prices of server systems, data centers have to come back and assumed the place the mainframe once had. People once again log in and perform tasks on large computing systems. Now we see this in everything from online email systems, social networking, online financial management and just about anything else you can think of. Services are further bundled together and connect to each other in the wide open world of the internet. All of these on-demand services that are available at the click of a button have collectively become known as “The Cloud.”