This document discusses cloud computing and provides a history, taxonomy, advantages, disadvantages, and future outlook. It outlines how cloud services have evolved from application service providers and hosted applications to today's software, platform, and infrastructure as a service models. The key advantages are lower costs and easier access, while disadvantages include loss of control and security/support perceptions. Going forward, the document predicts a shift to greater cloud computing power and less need for local infrastructure, especially with increased mobile usage.