AZ-900 Practice Question 52: Define Cloud Computing

Microsoft's definition is exactly this: cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the internet, where those services include common IT infrastructure such as virtual machines, storage, databases, and networking, and extend beyond traditional IT to things like IoT, machine learning, and AI. Because delivery happens over the internet, you are not constrained by physical infrastructure the way a traditional datacenter is; you can expand your IT footprint rapidly instead of waiting to build one.

Option B describes a traditional on-premises datacenter, which is the model cloud computing is contrasted with throughout the exam material. Option C describes one *use* of the cloud, geo-replication for disaster recovery, rather than the concept itself. Option D describes perpetual software licensing, which is the opposite of the consumption-based model that underpins cloud pricing.

Reference: What is cloud computing