The cloud.

[pre65]

Google Drive users have reacted angrily to a glitch leaving some unable to access files from the last six months.

Google said it was investigating the issue which is affecting some users of its hugely popular cloud storage service.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67554160

[Mike H]

Avoid 'Clouds' as much a I can!

[Nick]

Avoid 'Clouds' as much a I can!

He says, posting on a server hosted out there somewhere.

[pre65]

Avoid 'Clouds' as much a I can!

He says, posting on a server hosted out there somewhere.

Yes, but ------

I would also avoid the Cloud if possible, but in some cases (like this forum) it's unavoidable.

[Daniel Quinn]

I use the cloud whenever possible . Hosting companies can afford better technology , security and research and development than I can .

[Nick]

"The Cloud" can mean a whole lot of different architecture and systems, but in general if you are just on the other end of a IP pipe then you can safely think of it as entirely equivalent to "someone else's computer".

[Daniel Quinn]

That a bit of a poor analogy .

Think of it as your computer who a third party may or may not have access to and for a fee looks after it for you .

[jack]

That a bit of a poor analogy .

Think of it as your computer who a third party may or may not have access to and for a fee looks after it for you .

That's a bit of a/very poor analogy .

It's far more general than that. Think of it as ANY offsite IT-related service that's accessed via a network using a local client, e.g. a Windows app, a browser, an accounting package etc.

There are self-managed cloud services and third-party-managed ones. There are dedicated services that you may have exclusive use of and shared services that are ... shared between many, possibly unrelated, users.

There's "hardware as a service" (PaaS - Platform as a Service) where you have a physical or virtual bit of hardware, with or without an operating system, that is third-party or self-managed.

There's "software as a service" (SaaS) where maybe you have access via an API to a database or email system that is third-party or self-managed.

Then there's "infrastructure as a service" (IaaS) where the cloud provider implements either physically or virtually an entire infrastructure for you, e.g. firewalls, switches at L2 or L3 with QoS/VLAN capability, gateways, routers and VPNs, servers, databases etc. and you design how it all fits together.

Many, many different things. Basically, "cloud" refers to offsite IT hardware (both physical and virtual) and/or software services, accessed over a network via a local client. Doesn't matter if you manage "the cloud" or someone else does.

My entire business with it's 80,000 or so world-wide users operates entirely "in the cloud", mostly as PaaS but with a bit of SaaS and IaaS thrown in. Parts of it are self-managed (most of the PaaS and parts of the IaaS) however the SaaS and CDN parts of the IaaS are vendor-managed.

[Daniel Quinn]

I don't think you understand the concept of analogy .

[jack]

I don't think you understand the concept of analogy .

I think I understand very well, just, as I stated, I think it was a poor analogy. YMMV.

[Daniel Quinn]

Your verbosity suggests otherwise.

[jack]

Your verbosity suggests otherwise.

Hah! As if. Your brusqueness suggest the need to chill a bit.

[pre65]

Your verbosity suggests otherwise.

Hah! As if. Your brusqueness suggest the need to chill a bit.

Six weeks in a Siberian salt mine should be enough.

[Ali Tait]

Good for the lungs apparently.

[pre65]

Good for the lungs apparently.

Only if you breathe in.