Cloud computing is said to be the user-friendly version of grid computing. We know grid computing brought together the high performance computers, the middleware, and strategies to utilize hundreds and thousands of computers linked by advanced networks. We know this took place in universities, research labs and medical schools around the world over many years.

The Open Grid Forum, a group working on standards in grid computing has been meeting since 1998. Out of nowhere comes cloud computing. Ebay, Amazon, and Google showed even a casual technologist what the power of grid computing was, but it was easy. It wasn't about the standards or the middleware, it was the results and the ease of use.

A Grid Today special feature story by Wolfgang Gentzsch captures the differences between cloud computing and grid computing. He suggests that grid has been got caught in the trough and to look up at the next innovation, cloud computing as the progression of grid computing to the next level - the commercial level.

• What is Cloud Computing?
• The Three Levels of Cloud Computing
• Cloud Computing: It's the Future of Enterprise IT
• Do You Really Want Your Data in the Cloud?
• Cloud Computing: I Want To Have My Cake and Eat It Too
• Cloud Computing: Making Analytics in the Cloud a Reality
• RightScale CTO to Present at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo
• Cloud Computing vs Grid Computing
• Nirvanix CEO to Present at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo
• Enomaly Founder & Chief Technologist to Present at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo
• Cloud Computing - Morgan Stanley is Banking on the Cloud
• Cloud Computing: The SmugMug Approach to Using Amazon's EC2 and S3
• Cloud Computing vs. Elastic Cloud: What's the Difference?
• Cloud Computing - AT&T Takes to the Cloud
• Is Cloud Computing Right For You?
• Merrill Lynch Estimates "Cloud Computing" To Be $100 Billion Market
• Cloud Computing - Game Changing?
• Development Tools For Cloud Computing
• Twenty-One Experts Define Cloud Computing
• Creating a Common Cloud Computing Reference API - Part Two
• Cloud Computing: The Rise of Cloud Platforms and Why the OS Doesn’t Matter
• Cloud Computing Will Eventually Require Orchestration
• The Rise and Rise of Cloud Computing
• Six Benefits of Cloud Computing
• Cloud Computing: Securing the Cloud
• Who Has the Industry Lead in Cloud Computing?
• The Vocabulary of Cloud Computing
• Cloud Computing or Grid Computing - Which Comes First?