Cloud Computing is a bad metaphor

At a certain point you hear a name for something so many times it looses any real meaning. It’s just a name. Kleenex, as a word, doesn’t mean anything. Neither does Häagen-Dazs. But over time words just become labels and we forget their origins or initial meanings.

But in the case of Cloud Computing, I’m still stuck on what an awful metaphor it is for anything.

Clouds are fleeting. They don’t last long.
Clouds are vague and open to wide interpretation. No one sees the same thing when they look up at clouds. (“Do you see Darth Vader’s nose?” “No… oh do you mean the leg of the camel sitting under a tree?” “What Camel?” “Nevermind”)
Clouds often bring rain, lightening and cold wind.
You can’t see the sky, or the stars, when the clouds are out.
(However Obscured by clouds is a good Pink Floyd album few know about).
When someone has ill-formed ideas, we say their thinking is cloudy.
Clouds, and the weather, are unpredictable.

Forgetting the fact that it’s an old idea that’s fallen in and out of favor several times already, the metaphor itself has never sat well with me.

(Hat tip R/J/A)