Cloud Computing Manifesto

The Cloud Computing Manifesto is a manifesto containing a "public declaration of principles and intentions" for cloud computing providers and vendors[1], annotated as "a call to action for the worldwide cloud community" and "dedicated belief that the cloud should be open".[2] It follows the earlier development of the Cloud Computing Bill of Rights which addresses similar issues from the users' point of view.[3]

The document was developed "by way of an open community consensus process"[1] in response to a request by Microsoft 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".[4] Accordingly it is hosted on a MediaWiki wiki and licensed under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.[1]

The original, controversial version of the document called the Open Cloud Manifesto was sharply criticised by Microsoft who "spoke out vehemently against it"[5] for being developed in secret by a "shadowy group of IT industry companies"[6], raising questions about conflicts of interest[7] and resulting in extensive media coverage over the following days.[8][9][10] A pre-announcement commits to the official publication of this document on March 30, 2009 (in spite of calls to publish it earlier[11]), at which time the identities of the signatories ("several of the largest technology companies and organizations" led by IBM[12] along with OMG[13] and believed also to include Cisco, HP,[12] and Sun Microsystems[14][15]) is said to be revealed.[16] Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Salesforce.com are among those known to have rejected the document by declining to be signatories.[17][18] The document was leaked by Geva Perry in a blog post on 27 March 2009[19] and confirmed to be authentic shortly afterwards.[20]

The authors of both public and private documents have agreed to "work to bring together the best points of each effort".[21]

Contents

Controversy

The Open Cloud Manifesto version, developed in private by a secret consortium[22][15] of companies, was prematurely revealed by Microsoft's Senior Director of Developer Platform Product Management, Steve Martin on 26 March 2009. They claim that they 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", a point which is disputed by Reuven Cohen (originally believed to be the document's author).[23][24] Some commentators found it ironic that Microsoft should speak out in support of open standards[25][26] while others felt that their criticism was justified,[27][28] comparing it to the "long, ugly war over WS-I".[29] The call for open cloud standards was later echoed by Brandon Watson, Microsoft's Director of Cloud Services Ecosystem.[30][31]

Principles

The following principles are defined by the document:[1]

  1. User centric systems enrich the lives of individuals, education, communication, collaboration, business, entertainment and society as a whole; the end user is the primary stakeholder in cloud computing.
  2. Philanthropic initiatives don't work!
  3. Openness of standards, systems and software empowers and protects users; existing standards should be adopted where possible for the benefit of all stakeholders.
  4. Transparency fosters trust and accountability; decisions should be open to public collaboration and scrutiny and never be made "behind closed doors".
  5. Interoperability ensures effectiveness of cloud computing as a public resource; systems must be interoperable over a minimal set of community defined standards and vendor lock-in must be avoided.
  6. Representation of all stakeholders is essential; interoperability and standards efforts should not be dominated by vendor(s).
  7. Discrimination against any party for any reason is unacceptable; barriers to entry must be minimised.
  8. Evolution is an ongoing process in an immature market; standards may take some time to develop and coalesce but activities should be coordinated and collaborative.
  9. Balance of commercial and consumer interests is paramount; if in doubt consumer interests prevail.
  10. Security is fundamental, not optional.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Cloud Computing Manifesto
  2. ^ Open Cloud Manifesto Google Group
  3. ^ Cloud Computing Bill of Rights
  4. ^ Moving Toward an Open Process on Cloud Computing Interoperability
  5. ^ Author of 'cloud Manifesto' Surprised By Microsoft Protest
  6. ^ Microsoft Decries Cloud Computing Group's Lack Of Transparency
  7. ^ Microsoft Vs. The Cloud Manifesto
  8. ^ Microsoft criticizes drafting of secret 'Cloud Manifesto'
  9. ^ Microsoft loudly disses secret 'Cloud Manifesto'
  10. ^ Turf War Brewing Among Tech Firms Over Cloud Computing
  11. ^ Microsoft Decries Cloud Computing Group's Lack Of Transparency
  12. ^ a b IBM leading 'Open Cloud Manifesto' charge (InfoWorld)
  13. ^ Open Cloud Manifesto: Much Ado and To Do
  14. ^ Microsoft expresses outrage at secret 'Cloud Manifesto'
  15. ^ a b Thunder in the Cloud Over Openness
  16. ^ ElasticVapor: Introducing the Open Cloud Manifesto
  17. ^ A Cloud Manifesto Controversy
  18. ^ Amazon Web Services: No Open Cloud Manifesto for us
  19. ^ The Open Cloud Manifesto: Much Ado About Nothing
  20. ^ The Open Cloud Manifesto: Much Ado About Nothing (Comment)
  21. ^ Announcing the Cloud Computing Manifesto
  22. ^ Microsoft Strikes Out Against 'Open Cloud Manifesto'
  23. ^ Author of 'cloud manifesto' surprised by Microsoft protest
  24. ^ Microsoft pokes hole in 'cloud' manifesto
  25. ^ Cloud Manifesto: Is Microsoft Afraid of Rain?
  26. ^ Thunder in the Cloud Over Openness
  27. ^ Out of Order 2.0
  28. ^ open cloud FAIL
  29. ^ Out of Order
  30. ^ Microsoft Calls for Open Cloud Standards
  31. ^ An Open Cloud Requires an Equally Open Manifesto

External links