Behold the Open Cloud Manifesto: Insert your ideas here

A spectre is haunting New York City, though at the moment, it's not a very well defined one as spectres go these days. The leading participants in a major conference on cloud computing standards are being asked to sign a document, whose basic contents actually advertise themselves as not being defined. What's most important about the document for now, at least from the perspective of its backers, is that it gets signed.

"This document does not intend to define a final taxonomy of cloud computing or to charter a new standards effort," reads the preamble to the Open Cloud Manifesto, published this morning (PDF available here). "Nor does it try to be an exhaustive thesis on cloud architecture and design. Rather, this document is intended for CIOs, governments, IT users and business leaders who intend to use cloud computing and to establish a set of core principles for cloud providers. Cloud computing is still in its early stages, with much to learn and more experimentation to come. However, the time is right for the members of the emerging cloud computing community to come together around the notion of an open cloud."

The FAQ on the Manifesto's Web site states that the objective of the document is not to create a new organization or standards body; thus, one would be mistaken in saying that signing onto the document signifies joining anything in particular. "Your participation associates your organization with fundamental principles of open cloud computing," reads the FAQ. However, the FAQ goes on to say that some companies in the core group of participants had to thoroughly review the document for legal reasons before signing it, implying that it was important that a certain body of participants were initially involved prior to the document's public release and call for participation.

That certain body most prominently includes IBM, whose membership in the Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum became publicly known just last Friday, after the Microsoft Windows Azure product team called out the CCIF for appearing to draw lines in the sand.
Early signers-on to the document are not necessarily CCIF members; an Enomaly blog post this morning lists Red Hat, Akamai, SAP, the Eclipse Foundation, Juniper Networks, the Open Cloud Consortium, the Object Management Group (of which Microsoft is now a member), Rackspace, the Open Group, and VMware as among the new document's high-profile participants. These are not among the current CCIF membership list. Meanwhile, that membership list includes Intel and RSA, both of which are not included in Monday morning's list of signers-on.

What exactly are these principles the document stands in favor of? The blog post summarizes all six succinctly, though the underlying principle behind them all is the notion that no single provider of technology for cloud computing will create proprietary platforms with the intention of driving customers towards any system that has unalterable dependency on those platforms. Anything upon which the broader technology depends should be based upon standards adopted by the industry at large.

It's worth noting that Microsoft's absence (at least directly) from this list may not be the most notable one among the cloud-conscious this morning. Amazon is largely perceived as the world's leading provider of consumer-grade cloud hosting services; and Salesforce.com is seen as the leading provider of business-grade cloud applications, as well as the architect of the very compelling Force.com cloud architecture. Right now, their lack of "John Hancocks" on this morning's document may say more about its likely purpose than all six of its principles combined.

"We as industry participants must work together to ensure that the cloud remains as open as all other IT technologies," reads the close of the Manifesto. "Some might argue that it is too early to discuss topics such as standards, interoperability, integration and portability. Although this is a time of great innovation for the cloud computing community, that innovation should be guided by the principles of openness outlined in this document. We argue that it is exactly the right time to begin the work to build the open cloud."