Even when it functions normally, I'm not a fan of Apple's cloud solution. There's still not complete compatibility between iWork apps on my Mini/MacBooks and iPad/iPhones. I frequently have three copies of a single keynote appear on my iPad with no easy way of finding the most current version. I was a fan of the local-folder syncing option they had with MobileMe, and continue to like that about Dropbox.
When an iCloud service is down though, it's such a pain. I can handle a potential outage keeping me from syncing a file from one computer to another, but not denying me access to the file at all, as has been happening today. I see the thumbnails in the "Open" dialog on my apps, but there's no way to get them. Ridiculous frustration.
I'm sure this is not just apple's cloud, but that's the one I'm in large part stuck with, given the ecosystem I've chosen.