Open Cloud Manifesto: Blighted From Birth?

Microsoft’s Steven Martin raised the temperature with a blog post from 26 March where he claimed it was biased.

In an interview with eWEEK, Martin said Microsoft is opposed to the Open Cloud Manifesto on procedural issues and also because it says nothing about governance, such as who will govern the evolution of the effort and what goes into the process of managing cloud computing standards.

“Who will manage this effort and determine who is in compliance?” Martin asked. “If the answer is IBM we have significant concerns about that.”

That is ironic because it is Microsoft and IBM who got together to create many of the web services specifications that have led the way for much of the cloud technology to be used. However, the discussion is only beginning, with the Cloud Computing Expo running 30 March – 1 April in New York, and the CCIF’s Wall Street Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum taking place on 2 April, also in New York conference.

Martin said Microsoft is interested in having a conversation about the future of the cloud, but in a 29 March blog post, said:

“As you might expect, several of us spent most of Thursday and Friday of last week in conversation with developers, standards body members and other vendors regarding open standards for cloud computing and how we get there collaboratively. Being in this industry for so many years, I remember a time when new technologies and platforms did not produce much interest in standards and interoperability. It was great this time around to see broad support for openness in the cloud and transparency on the approach to interoperability. I was also happy to see a number of community-driven efforts spin up last week, which will provide enormously valuable feedback in defining the desired end-state. It’s important for everyone to take a step back and remember this isn’t about vendors; it’s about developers and end-users.

“As I indicated on Wednesday night, Microsoft welcomes the opportunity for open dialogue on cloud standards. To that end, we have accepted an invitation to meet on Monday at 4pm in New York at the Cloud Computing Expo, with other vendors and members of standards bodies. From our perspective, this represents a fresh start on the conversation – a collaborative ‘do-over’ if you will.”

In the end, the Cloud Manifesto actually consists of quite bland propositions, which most people would agree with, including this list of key principles that must be followed for an open cloud:

1. Cloud providers must work together to ensure that the challenges to cloud adoption (security, integration, portability, interoperability, governance/management, metering/monitoring) are addressed through open collaboration and the appropriate use of standards.
2. Cloud providers must not use their market position to lock customers into their particular platforms and limiting their choice of providers.
3. Cloud providers must use and adopt existing standards wherever appropriate. The IT industry has invested heavily in existing standards and standards organizations; there is no need to duplicate or reinvent them.
4. When new standards (or adjustments to existing standards) are needed, we must be judicious and pragmatic to avoid creating too many standards. We must ensure that standards promote innovation and do not inhibit it.
5. Any community effort around the open cloud should be driven by customer needs, not merely the technical needs of cloud providers, and should be tested or verified against real customer requirements.
6. Cloud computing standards organizations, advocacy groups, and communities should work together and stay coordinated, making sure that efforts do not conflict or overlap

Said one backer of the manifesto: “When you read the document you can’t help but wonder what all the furore is about.”