Open Cloud Manifesto - The Fight Begins

Today, Microsoft threw a desperate Hail Mary pass to preempt an upcoming industry coalition move to define Cloud Interoperability guidelines. This forced Reuven Cohen of Enamoly to write a blog post explaining the efforts by the industry coalition.

Our goal is to draft a document that clearly states we (including dozens of supporting companies) believe that like the Internet, the cloud itself should be open. The manifesto does not speak to application code or licensing but instead to the fundamental principles that the Internet was founded upon - an open platform available to all. It is a call to action for the worldwide cloud community to get involved and embrace the principles of the open cloud.

Brandon Watson from Azure team responded to the firestorm in the blogosphere and social media with his own blog post

My personal opinion is that there is going to be a ton of innovation on the web, and much of it will be developed by single companies (as in, not coordinated efforts), and they will then share it with their respective ecosystems. The market will ultimately decide who wins, but we are so early in this game that simply ceding to the notion that technology needs of a provider should not be driving features is a bit premature.

I will be tracking this fight here at Cloud Avenue. Please see the following disclaimer regarding this.

I am a silent observer of Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum initiated by Reuven Cohen. From my other avatar as Open Source Evangelist, I have a strong anti-Microsoft bias. At this point of time, I am neutral tending towards Reuven's efforts. But I will try my level best to present the arguments of both sides on this debate.

While it's refreshing to see conflicts being disclosed I think Geir has a point in saying: "You've got a serious problem when MSFT can call you out on openness and they - despite being MSFT - have a point." TechCrunch's Out of Order 2.0 post is more direct: "As inclusive as possible? Not targeted at any one company? Engage in a dialogue? What a load of crap that is. It’s the same back room cigar-smoke-filled scam of the good old days when Web Services first began its inexorable move to reshape computing...By shining a light on this, Martin and Microsoft may have ensured that future meetings will be open for all participation. It’s going to be hard for Google or IBM or whoever else thought this was a good idea to stand up and take credit for it. The war over WS-I was long, ugly, and ultimately a loser for those who started it. Have another cigar, Reuven." One of the commentators has a point: "It was a committee having a secret meeting. End of story. This committee should be disbanded and a new one formed, and all the participants of the secret meetings should be barred from the new committee. As far as committees and committee rules go, this is an ethical lapse of the highest order." In any case I'm an open source proponent and developer but I'm inclined to assume good faith here. Change often starts at a grassroots level and I think it's better we encourage this "open" attitude rather than beat the hell out of it. Sam

Sam, I haven't seen what Reuven is offering. Thatz why I said I am neutral but tending towards his manifesto if it stays true to what he is proposing. However, open source community got biten by MSFT again and again. So, even though I would like to give them a chance in good faith, I would wait for them to prove their credibility. I am not writing them off. I am just asking them to prove their credibility.

Open Cloud Manifesto - The Fight Begins

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