What term describes programs and instances run by the customer that operate on the same devices used by other customers?

The term that best describes programs and instances run by the customer that operate on the same devices used by other customers is resource sharing. This concept refers to the ability of multiple users or customers to access and utilize the underlying physical hardware and infrastructure resources concurrently. It emphasizes collaboration and usage efficiency, allowing various customers to leverage a common pool of resources without needing dedicated hardware.

Resource pooling, while similar, specifically refers to the cloud provider's ability to group resources and allocate them to multiple customers dynamically. On the other hand, cloud instances refer to individual deployments or instances of applications or services running in the cloud, which do not characterize the concurrent operation aspect. Virtual machines are a specific technology for creating isolated environments on a physical server, but they do not capture the broader context of operating programs alongside others on shared infrastructure.

Overall, resource sharing encapsulates the interaction between customers operating on common devices, highlighting the collaborative nature of cloud computing.