My iTunes frequently offers me the option to back up my data to "the Cloud," which is a neat-sounding name that actually means "someone else's much bigger computer." A Cloud, in reality, is a network of servers that store data and can be accessed by users from any online system.
If I create a document and store it on my computer, the only way I can get to it is by opening it on my computer. I can store it on some sort of portable data format, which 30 or so years ago might have been magnetic tape or punch cards and today might be a flash drive or, if I'm old school, a CD-ROM. If I do that, then I can open it on another computer if that computer is compatible with my storage format. These days, almost every computer will operate a flash drive as long as it has a proper USB port. But if I encounter the rare computer that doesn't, or if I've been limited to using a CD-ROM but find a computer without an optical drive to read it, I'm in trouble.
Cloud computing, on the other hand, lets me store the document on another server with which I have contracted to do so, like I might rent a mini-storage facility. The document is on that other server, so anytime I need the document I can access it as long as I am able to get online. So I could get it even through a portable device like a smartphone with a data plan, or a tablet, or even a plain, old-fashioned computer that is plugged in to the internet. The idea is that I am no longer tied to my original computer or even portable data storage, and I can access all of my information from anywhere, anytime.
Unless the Cloud were to decide I can't.
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