Yes, we want open cloud standards. They are good for vendors and more importantly, they great for customers. I agree with Daryl Plummer’s take on the recently announced Open Cloud Manifesto. He holds a similar view on this topic – which is that open cloud standards need to focus on the customer.
History has shown us that when vendors create standards the results are not very good for customers because vendors have a tendency to focus on lock-in and the protection of their own customer base. I agree with Daryl when he says that, “we NEED an open cloud – as long as it is not co-opted by vendors seeking to dominate a ‘next generation of infrastructure and platforms’ or to protect their ability to generate business.” In other words, the open cloud is great, as long as it focuses on the needs of customers. He aptly states, “Lock-in is not prevented by standards.”
So, in looking to create standards, we need to find what works for users. The cloud will succeed with Web-style standards that grow from actual customer use, like with REST, which was created mostly by users/customers, versus SOAP, which was created by vendors. REST is rapidly taking over. It is simpler and doesn’t have everything that SOAP offers, but it’s an approach that is good enough to wrestle with 80% of customers’ use cases. This is the approach we need to see happen in developing cloud standards, and is the approach that will give way to successful cloud standards.
Let’s learn from the web and let it influence the standardization process. Keep it simple, put it out there and let uses drive the adoption process. In the end, customer usage is the best way to drive standardization that works.
Very true. Any attempts to push the likes of vendors on to the standards process is a big fail. It should start with customers and organically grow up. A bottoms-up approach is the right approach and thatz what I am pushing for.