Someone else's computer
A popular joke says the cloud is just someone else's computer. It is true: the data sits in huge data centres. The advantage is that you add capacity with one click and pay only for what you use.
Types
- IaaS: you rent virtual servers (AWS EC2).
- PaaS: a platform you upload your application to.
- SaaS: a finished application in the browser (Gmail, Microsoft 365).
Cloud or your own server?
The cloud is convenient, but monthly fees for storage and traffic add up. For family photos or a small business, your own NAS combined with a cloud backup often makes sense. AI data centres also consume huge amounts of energy and memory.