The document discusses the history and basics of cloud computing. It notes that while the concept did not have a single inventor, major developments and popularization occurred in 2006 with Amazon's launch of their S3 storage and EC2 compute services. It then provides examples of how cloud storage and computing services can be more cost effective than maintaining physical hardware, and lists some popular cloud providers like Amazon Web Services and Google. Finally, it includes further resources on European cloud computing strategies and research programs.