Recently, I have been studying about Cloud Computing- what it is, what are the common myths, what it promises and what are its shortcomings. While, I am still to cover a lot of ground, I have learnt some interesting and maybe useful stuff. For one, the use of "Cloud" denotes a kind of bounded area or region, which is separate from the surrounding (infrastructure/software of middleware systems).
Secondly, these are the systems, which offer users better flexibility over what they need to use and what they pay for- called as "Pay-per-Use", or "Metered Services" – something like the Electricity we use or water billed by municipalities. Some also term this as "Commodisation of IT".
Also, Cloud Computing offers startup Business a platform wherein they can start their basic services without investing in a huge IT infrastructure.
While "Cloud" systems available for public domain are not so safe in terms of security and encryption, there are private and Hybrid models wherein, there are provisions as well as ongoing research in terms of better security and encryption.
However, Cloud Computing is not suitable for mission critical applications, for systems that have to follow many many regulatory terms, and defence systems.