Last week I was on a conference call with some potential client when one of the senior business people said: “And then we could use cloud computing or something, to get this application in the hands of everyone”.  

That’s when I thought - wow - this term really has penetrated into the mainstream.  Cloud Computing has crossed the chasm, except that it seems to be more of a catch phrase for the latest technical fad, except that no one seems to be talking about exactly the same thing.  

As if on cue the next morning the Wall Street Journal:  The Internet Industry Is on a Cloud – Whatever That May Mean by Geoffrey A. Fowler and Ben Worthen landed on my lap.  Ok, it landed on my porch, and then I read it.

I hope the Journal doesnt mind if I borrow their image of the cloud - very fitting for the article.  Basically its a tale of marketers trying to - or should I say - fighting for integration of the term into its product jargon.  

Some of my favorite quotes from the piece are bleow.  I recommended the quick article as a nice distraction, but don’t expect to come away being clear on the term “Cloud Computing”.  

“I have no idea what anyone is talking about,” said Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison, when talking about cloud computing at a financial analyst conference in September. “It’s really just complete gibberish. What is it?” He added: “When is this idiocy going to stop?”

In the full fiscal year since Salesforce started using the term cloud computing, its revenue grew 44%. “I think it’s the most powerful “>Buy Xenical cheap term in the industry,” 

Dell Inc. applied to trademark the term cloud computing last year. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office initially approved the application. But it changed its mind in response to an outburst of criticism, including from bloggers incensed that the term could fall under one company’s control.