cloud computer :the global computer not everyone agrees on exactly what " cloud computer " means. previously called on-demand computing. grid computing, or software as a service, cloid computing basically means that, instead of storing your software or data on your own PC or your own company's computers, you store it on servers on the internet. you don't care where the servers are located; they're out there somewhere-" in the cloud " the idea here is that companies could tap into computers as they are needed, just as they do now with the electric power grid, splitting their computing workload between data centers in different parts of the world. the hope of technology people is that companies will find cloud computing cheaper and more reliable than managing their own PCs, servers, and software. ( in a later chapter, we discuss an even more involved concept known as the singularity )