A term used to describe the Internet as a massive computer that can hold large amounts of data and where the individual hardware processors of the computer cooperate in order to carry out some computational task. In effect it is used to describe the hosting of computer applications in a distributed way rather than having them resident on a single computer. This is a revolutionary idea that challenges the whole idea of a computer or a locally clustered set of computers being used as a medium for applications.
Source: A Dictionary of the Internet (3 ed.) Darrel Ince. Oxford University Press Published online: 2013 Current Online Version: 2013. ISBN: 9780191744150: http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191744150.001.0001/acref-9780191744150-e-4112#
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