What exactly is "cloud" in layman's terms?

[S]

I keep hearing about "cloud" this and "cloud" that. All these companies use cloud, but what the heck is cloud?

[TREV]

Cloud is the new term for server side hosting. So instead of files being directly on your hard drive they are hosted on a server from that provider.

All it does is make your files LESS secure, but doers make them available to you from any internet capable device. The same thing can be done much more securely with a USB stick!

[Christina Waters]

To simplify it, the cloud is a way of storing and/or backing up files by means of the Internet and/or a remote server connection.

There are many different cloud solutions available online. Some solutions are free and others cost a small fee (usually by month) and on a tiered basis, where you only pay for what you need.

Google Drive offers 15 GB of free storage with your Google account. After that, you would pay monthly for 100 GB or more of storage. I use it for storing files for school while I'm traveling. The cloud allows me to access those files from anywhere or from any device with an Internet connection.