These are questions that people (who aren't techies) usually want to ask, but are afraid to ask, because, of course, everyone knows the answers, don't they?

Well, yes they do. But they usually don't know that they know.  What I mean is, everybody already uses a database, maybe not a computer database, but somesort of thing that can be used to add information, change information, retrieve information, or delete information. But generally, their database is very personal,
and only they get to use it. The moment that someone wants to share the data with someone else, well, that's where the fun begins.

Because, you can make a copy of your database and give it to that other person, and then they have it too.  But if you change your copy, then the two are no longer
the same, and, either you have to tell the other person what the changes are or you get to make another copy, give them that new copy and throw away the old version.

Now, if there is only one or maybe two other copies, this isn't too much of a chore, but if there are, say, 100 copies or a 1000 copies, then there is a little work in this.

So computers are able to do this task of keeping a database current for a few or a few thousand users. But, since computers are still only computers, there are some complications.  This is where we come in.  [click here for more info]