Stormy Weather – The Open Cloud Manifesto

Over the past year or so, a lot of words have been written about “Cloud computing.”  And while the growth of the cloud as a service has been big, many companies still haven’t taken the time to figure it out.  The bad economy may be forcing some companies into giving it some thought sooner rather than later, as hosting in the cloud can significantly lower overhead back at the office.  Almost every company is in the hunt to lower costs these days, and for some, hosting applications and services in the cloud means less expense and fewer people back at the office.

A few weeks ago, I began hearing rumblings of an “Open Cloud” work group.  The group was gathering support for a manifesto for how to ensure openness of the cloud.  Sounded like a great idea (if not a pipe dream).  Then the storm hit . . .

From the Open Cloud Manifesto:

The buzz around cloud computing has reached a fever pitch. Some believe it is a
disruptive trend representing the next stage in the evolution of the Internet. Others
believe it is hype, as it uses long established computing technologies. As with any
new trend in the IT world, organizations must figure out the benefits and risks of
cloud computing and the best way to use this technology.

Then  Steven Martin of Microsoft trashed the manifesto in his blog

We were admittedly disappointed by the lack of openness in the development of the Cloud Manifesto. What we heard was that there was no desire to discuss, much less implement, enhancements to the document despite the fact that we have learned through direct experience. Very recently we were privately shown a copy of the document, warned that it was a secret, and told that it must be signed “as is,” without modifications or additional input. It appears to us that one company, or just a few companies, would prefer to control the evolution of cloud computing, as opposed to reaching a consensus across key stakeholders (including cloud users) through an “open” process. An open Manifesto emerging from a closed process is at least mildly ironic.

Amazon has also declined to sign, but did so diplomatically, saying that they needed more time to evaluate the situation.  The result of the Microsoft comments was nothing other than free publicity for the Open Cloud Manifesto itself.  Everyone is buzzing about the controversy.  But once you read the actual manifesto itself, you’ll find very little for Microsoft or anyone else to be concerned with.

The manifesto is a very simple document written in non-technical language which defines what the Cloud is, potential issues, and how the cloud can be kept open but secure.   In fact, from a consumer point of view, you’d probably want to signing up with one of the nearly 100 companies who have signed on as supporters of an open cloud (including IBM, Sun Microsystems, Cisco, and Novell).   This is a very pro-customer document and serves the needs of openness, security, portability, and standardization.

You can read more about the Open Cloud Manifesto at their website.