Hosted in the "Cloud"

The internet beyond the local network has been depicted as a "cloud" in diagrams for years.  Web services, hosted services, and ASP - Application Service Provider, didn't catch on as buzz words but cloud is sticking around longer than the usual 15 minutes. 

Well known cloud applications are Salesforce, Quickbooks online edition, Google apps, the social networking sites like Facebook, and many others. 

There is confusion and some degree of interpretation when it comes to the cloud.  Not all  "cloud"  services are considered equal or even authentic.  A server in a network operations center running a web server might be in the Internet cloud, but may not be considered a true cloud application because doesn't live in a scalable "cluster."  The most extreme, or cloudiest, applications might those that are the most abstracted.  This type of application could theoretically be moved around the world from one server cluster to another without anyone knowing the difference.