Cloud Computing

What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing is a network system in which the information and documents for each user is stored on a central server, the information stored by each user is accessible from any computer in the network when the user is logged on to that computer.

What are the benefits and disadvantages of cloud computing for an ordinary computer user?
The benefits are that if the users computer is stolen/lost or the HDD gets corrupt from viruses etc. the users data is not lost as it is stored on a central server and can be recovered from any computer in the cloud. The disadvantage is that causes a dependency on the server by the user and that no files are stored on the users computer; if internet access was not available or the server was down then the files would be inaccessible, however this can be prevented by backing up the documents to and external, local location such as a HDD or USB memory stick.

What are the benefits and disadvantages of cloud computing for a start-up company?
The benefits for a start-up company is that it can significantly reduce the cost for a similar computer system, allowing the business to spent money elsewhere. The disadvantage is the same as above, if the server was inaccessible the files could not be accessed unless they were backed up to and external, local location.

What are the social dangers of cloud computing? That is, why might people be uneasy about the whole world's documents being stored on GoogleDocs instead of on local machines?
The social dangers of cloud computing is that if all the worlds documents were stored on several central servers, they could be used by governments to "spy" on anyone they wish. They could also be hacked by people, revealing private information, leading to crimes such as identity theft.
Also people may become uneasy about all the worlds documants being stored on several servers as if they were to somehow become inaccessible (such as power/network outages or DDoS attack) then people would be able to do very little.