The PC revolution changed all that, but only for a while. Today, we're all dependent on distant computers all over again — namely the phalanxes of potent servers that power the Web. More and more, we're using browser-based services instead of traditional software, and storing documents, photos, and other data online rather than on our own hard disks. It's a red-hot trend known as cloud computing. (The "cloud" in "cloud computing," incidentally, is a pointless synonym for the perfectly good term "Internet." The only thing the tech industry adores more than an old buzzword is a new buzzword.)Once upon a time, a few decades ago, computers were extraordinarily expensive, room-filling machines — the kind decked out with whirring tape reels, flashing lights, and banks of switches. You didn't pull up a chair up to use one; instead, using a process called timesharing, you accessed it via a remote terminal at the same time as a bunch of other folks./.../
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