But, most new apps run in the clouds; so they can sync across any device you want on and offline (if you loose connectivity), and you can never loose data.
With a windows based app, If your computer goes down....
Than
They said the same things about the tape backup, disk drives, HD..etc.
Many smart people fear giving up the data.
I'm sure there was always, and will always be security concerns on data, and how we store it.
With the rise of data tech, there is the need for centralized control of our data, by a professional company that is "too big to be hacked".
Cloud is a trendy term that stuck, and likely originated as you point out. Before cloud, it was called "web based", and that term didnt have the romance required for marketing.
Large companies (target, walmart...etc) are all suffering massage data breaches as they attempted to control their own data. Ashley Madison? Had the data been on a professional cloud service, and clients data actually secured as per user agreement, we wouldnt be discussing it.
I would make the comparison to a bank. We give up control of our money for a "professional" service that can handle it more securely then we can.
In the beginning, these places got robbed
ps- check out the new google photos. That is a perfect example of something only possible with a cloud.