Introducing the Open Cloud Manifesto

[Reuven Cohen]

Over the last few weeks I have been working closely with several of the largest technology companies and organizations helping to co-author the Open Cloud Manifesto. 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.

We are still working on the first version of the manifesto which will be published Monday, March 30th with a goal of being ratified by the greater cloud community. Given the nature of this document we have attempted to be as inclusive as possible inviting most of the major names in technology to participate in the initial draft. The intention of this first draft is to act as a line in the sand, a starting point for others to get involved.  That being said this manifesto is not specifically targeting any one company or industry but instead is intended to engage a dialogue on the opportunities and benefits of fostering an open cloud ideology for everyone.

Many clouds will continue to be different in a number of important ways, providing unique value for organizations. It is not our intention to define standards for every capability in the cloud and create a single homogeneous cloud environment. Rather, as cloud computing matures to address several key principles that we believe must be followed to ensure the cloud is open and delivers the choice, flexibility and agility organizations demand. This is just one of several initiatives and announcements we will be making in the coming weeks as we move to organize the Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum (CCIF) and Cloud Camp into a formalized organization.

If you would like to be part of the discussion we invite you to get involved at our Open Cloud Manifesto Discussion Group  (http://groups.google.com/group/opencloud)

Reuven Cohen
CCIF Instigator / Open Cloud Manifesto
www.cloudforum.org

[Gary Mazz]

This sounds like a good marketing step to build confidence with
solutions and providers. In the US, however, there is a growing trend in
the "last mile" network service providers to limit access to services on
their networks. How does the manifesto address these issues or
participation from last mile providers ?

cheers,
Gary Mazzaferro
in Stealth Mode

> <http://groups.google.com/group/opencloud>

> (http://groups.google.com/group/opencloud)
>
> Reuven Cohen
> CCIF Instigator / Open Cloud Manifesto

> www.cloudforum.org <http://www.cloudforum.org>
>
> >

[Reuven Cohen]

The idea isn't to dictate business models but instead to engage the discussion on the fundamental principles of an open cloud. For some this document may seem like interop 101, but given the caliber of the supporters I think this will be a huge leap forward and shows an actual effort to do something tangible.

I think you will be surprised when the you see the list of supporters.

r/c

[Paulo Calcada]

How would be this related to the work introduced by Sam Johnston :

http://wiki.cloudcommunity.org/wiki/Cloud_Computing_Manifesto

Would we end being faced with two different projects with the some objective?

Paulo

2009/3/26 Reuven Cohen <r...@enomaly.com>

[Reuven Cohen]

We have been working on this document for weeks and it was originally supposed to be announced today, but got pushed off until Monday to make time for some last minute alterations. I am not sure what his intentions are. I will say his timing does seem rather suspect.

Reuven

[Paulo Calcada]

I think that having such thing as this Manifesto would be an interesting starting point for new comers, and for those who are completely lost in the cloud confusing "mess". So, I hope that these two projects could be transformed in something useful, instead of increasing the mess. By the way, good work Ruven...

[Sam Johnston]

resending due to "posting error"...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sam Johnston <sa...@samj.net>
Date: Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 6:23 PM
Subject: Re: Introducing the Open Cloud Manifesto
To: cloud...@googlegroups.com

On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 5:30 PM, Reuven Cohen <r...@enomaly.com> wrote:

How would be this related to the work introduced by Sam Johnston :

http://wiki.cloudcommunity.org/wiki/Cloud_Computing_Manifesto

Would we end being faced with two different projects with the some objective?

Paulo

We have been working on this document for weeks and it was originally supposed to be announced today, but got pushed off until Monday to make time for some last minute alterations. I am not sure what his intentions are. I will say his timing does seem rather suspect.

Reuven,

I thought my intentions were made pretty clear in the announcement (since deleted from the group's archives if not twitter feed). The initiative and its timing was driven 100% by Microsoft's statement earlier today that they "feel strongly that any "manifesto" should be created, from its inception, through an open mechanism like a Wiki, for public debate and comment, all available through a Creative Commons license". As you well know I have provided free, open services for the collaboration in the cloud computing community at http://wiki.cloudcommunity.org/ for at least the last 6 months and this seemed like a perfect fit.

More to Paulo's point though, I explained in a comment just before yours that I hoped that "when this consortium reveals itself their work will also be available under a CC-BY-SA license so we can cherry pick the better parts". Although we now know that you're the "instigator", the Open Cloud Manifesto group has exactly one member (presumably you) and we still don't know who "several of the largest technology companies and organizations" actually are, even though there has been rampant speculation:

• InformationWeek: Microsoft Bashes Secret 'Cloud Manifesto'
• VNUnet: Microsoft expresses outrage at secret 'Cloud Manifesto'
• eWeek: Microsoft Calls for Open Cloud Standards
• BetaNews: Microsoft launches a pre-emptive strike against cloud competition
• TechFlash: Microsoft criticizes secret drafting of cloud-computing manifesto
• Silicon Alley Insider: Microsoft Readies For Another Big Tech Battle (MSFT)
• CNN Money: Microsoft To Rivals: Take Your 'Open Cloud Manifesto' And Shove It
• And so on... twitter and the blogosphere are alight too.
  

Rather than busying yourself calling into question my intentions (actually I barely had time to do this with all the cloud standards work I've been doing lately) I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks it's high time you revealed who's involved in your "secret consortium".

Sam

[Paulo Calcada]

Sam, my congratulations to Ruven's work extends also to your work, I think that both have done an excellent work and would be very interesting, and even more efficient", seeing  that your work is going on the same direction.

Paulo

2009/3/26 Sam Johnston <sa...@samj.net>

[Reuven Cohen]

Simply, my goal is to bring awareness to interoperable cloud computing. I suppose I should thank Microsoft for helping bring this to the forefront.  Mission Accomplished.

r/c

[Geir Magnusson Jr.]

Erm...

Why was the original post deleted from the group's archives?

(Moderators : You want to moderate this through and have an open
discussion here on the list rather than elsewhere - it will happen
either way...)

geir

[Jesse L Silver]

It was a mistake - we're replacing the post. I'm on the phone w/ Sam to get it put back.

[gary mazzaferro]

I guess everyone would be suprised to see. "See" be the cogent word vs hidden which it currently is.  

 

-gary 

[JP Morgenthal]

Reuven,

While your personal goal was to raise awareness, I was under the
assumption that a goal of the CCIF was to produce an ontology to use
to normalize discussion regarding cloud computing aspects and to
define interoperability within each class within the ontology.

My thoughts regarding this aspect of the CCIF are posted here if
anyone is interested:
http://www.jpmorgenthal.com/morgenthal/index.php?entry=entry090329-104644

JP
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JP Morgenthal
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