The Open Cloud Manifesto: Where is Microsoft?

The Open Cloud Manifesto, a list of principles for open cloud computing, was released on Monday with the backing of major technology providers, but with some notable omissions.

The companies that have signed up to the document include AMD, VMware, Novell, Cisco, Red Hat, Sun and IBM, which is reported to be the originator of the manifesto. However, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Salesforce.com are not listed as signatories.

The document talks about a couple of key concepts, including the ability for data and applications from one cloud vendor to be able to be ported to another cloud vendor. It also calls for interoperability between one cloud vendor to another, and for consistent ways to meter and monitor performance and usage.

"Without standards, the ability to bring systems back in-house or choose another cloud provider will be limited by proprietary interfaces. Once an organisation builds or ports a system to use a cloud provider's offerings, bringing that system back in-house will be difficult and expensive," the manifesto states.

It ends by issuing six principles of an 'Open Cloud', quoted here:

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 limit 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 organisations; there is no need to duplicate or reinvent them.
4. When new standards (or adjustments to existing standards) are needed, [the industry] must be judicious and pragmatic to avoid creating too many standards. [The industry] 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 organisations, advocacy groups and communities should work together and stay co-ordinated, making sure that efforts do not conflict or overlap.

These goals may pose a challenge for those with existing cloud platforms - companies such as Amazon and Microsoft. However, the document's authors suggest that there is room for discussion. "This document is meant to begin the conversation, not define it," the manifesto says in its conclusion.

Microsoft has already taken issue with the manifesto and the way it was developed in a blog post, written by Steven Martin, a senior director at the company. In an interview with silicon.com sister site CNET News.com on Friday, Martin did not point to any specific clause that Microsoft disagreed with, but said there were areas whose intent the software maker would have needed to better understand before signing.

Martin said IBM approached Microsoft about joining, but only after the document was finalised and the company had already started briefing press and analysts. "I think a reasonable person could question the motive there," he said, suggesting that the approach was a PR tactic.

However, Martin said Microsoft would like to be a part of the dialogue. He noted that the company was subsequently invited to a meeting of some cloud computing participants to take place on Monday. "We have accepted that invitation and we will participate," Martin said. "If there is meaningful dialogue, it is something we will want to play a role in. Hopefully we will use that as a chance to restart that conversation."

ZDNet UK's Karen Friar contributed to this report.