Cloud hosting, is it any different to normal hosting ?

Hi all, i am very happy with Rapid Weaver and Just Host as my Web Space host (using FTP to upload etc).

I am getting very confused when Hosting companies talk about HOST your site on a Cloud !!, are they trying to get on the Apple iCloud band wagon ?.

Surely ALL site's ARE hosted on a Server, which is really a computer sitting somewhere in somebodies bedroom !. So why do they say hosted on a CLOUD, it also seems an excuse for charging more that the more conventional hosting methods.

The company who looks after my domain name told of a company called SQUARESPACE who only HOST sites on a CLOUD, cheapest is $13.33 a month and you do all your editing online using there templates etc.it just seems a big rip off to me.

tim

CLOUD is a buzzword at the moment and is a pure commercial thing.
There are different types of clouds and on top of that different ways of implementing them.
What vendors ( ISP's ) do is using shared resources ( like they have been doing in the last 10 years )

My suggestion is to ask them a bit more detail and see what they can tell you that is different from what you already have.
If they are serious about Cloud computing , ask them in writing where exactly your data will be located ( live data and backup data ) , then ask what legal framework they have in place that guarantees your data availability and data privacy.
I would be surprised if their answer is anything different then " Doesn't matter, it is in the cloud, that's what it is all about isn't it ".

Simply put, the real challenge for Cloud computing is the legal framework and that is exactly the reason why major companies use private clouds, which is no different that what they have been using for the past 10 years.
Only advantage they have is that they can commission and decommission resources much faster than before, but that is only a technical solution.

My 2 cents.

Cheers ... McBie

Fair comment McBie, i wonder if anybody else has there own two pennorth to give ?

tim