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 30 March 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]

Controversy

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The Open Cloud Manifesto version, developed in private by a secret consortium[15][22] 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] while others felt that their criticism was justified,[26][27] comparing it to the "long, ugly war over WS-I".[28] The call for open cloud standards was later echoed by Brandon Watson, Microsoft's Director of Cloud Services Ecosystem.[29][30]

Principles

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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 can greatly increase the well-being of mankind; they should be enabled or enhanced by cloud computing where possible.
  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

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Cloud Computing Manifesto". Wiki.cloudcommunity.org. Archived from the original on 22 December 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  2. ^ "Open Cloud Manifesto Google Group". Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  3. ^ "Cloud Computing Bill of Rights". Wiki.cloudcommunity.org. Archived from the original on 10 February 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  4. ^ "Moving Toward an Open Process on Cloud Computing Interoperability". Blogs.msdn.com. 25 March 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  5. ^ "Author of 'cloud Manifesto' Surprised By Microsoft Protest". Cio.com. 26 March 2009. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  6. ^ McLaughlin, Kevin (26 March 2009). "Microsoft Decries Cloud Computing Group's Lack of Transparency". Crn.com. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  7. ^ "Microsoft Vs. The Cloud Manifesto". Informationweek.com. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  8. ^ Montalbano, Elizabeth (26 March 2009). "Microsoft criticizes drafting of secret 'Cloud Manifesto'". Infoworld.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  9. ^ Fiveash, Kelly (26 March 2009). "Microsoft loudly disses secret 'Cloud Manifesto'". Theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  10. ^ Turf War Brewing Among Tech Firms Over Cloud Computing
  11. ^ "Microsoft Decries Cloud Computing Group's Lack of Transparency". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 4 November 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  12. ^ a b "IBM leading 'Open Cloud Manifesto' charge (InfoWorld)". Tech.yahoo.com. 20 April 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2012.[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/Open-Cloud-Manifesto-Much-Ado-and-To-Do-876838/ [dead link]
  14. ^ "Microsoft expresses outrage at secret 'Cloud Manifesto'". Archived from the original on 28 March 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
  15. ^ a b "Thunder in the Cloud Over Openness". Gigaom.com. 27 March 2009. Archived from the original on 1 November 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  16. ^ "Introducing the Open Cloud Manifesto". ElasticVapor. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  17. ^ Worthen, Ben (28 March 2009). "A Cloud Manifesto Controversy". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  18. ^ "Amazon Web Services: No Open Cloud Manifesto for us". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  19. ^ "The Open Cloud Manifesto: Much Ado About Nothing". Gevaperry.typepad.com. 27 March 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  20. ^ "The Open Cloud Manifesto: Much Ado About Nothing (Comment)". Gevaperry.typepad.com. 27 March 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  21. ^ "Announcing the Cloud Computing Manifesto". Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  22. ^ Montalbano, Elizabeth (6 April 2009). "Microsoft exec blasts 'Open Cloud Manifesto'". Computerworld.
  23. ^ Montalbano, Elizabeth (26 March 2009). "Author of 'cloud manifesto' surprised by Microsoft protest". Infoworld.com. Archived from the original on 30 March 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  24. ^ "Microsoft pokes hole in 'cloud' manifesto". Marketwatch.com. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  25. ^ Wilcox, Joe (26 March 2009). "Cloud Manifesto: Is Microsoft Afraid of Rain?". Microsoft-watch.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  26. ^ Thursday, 26 March 2009 (26 March 2009). "Out of Order 2.0". Techcrunchit.com. Archived from the original on 4 July 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ Geir on 26 March 2009 8:03 am (26 March 2009). "open cloud FAIL". Blogs.codehaus.org. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  28. ^ Out of Order Archived 22 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/Microsoft-Calls-for-Open-Cloud-Standards-538212/ [dead link]
  30. ^ "An Open Cloud Requires an Equally Open Manifesto". Manyniches.com. 26 March 2009. Archived from the original on 10 December 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
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