Amazon.com skeptical on secret Cloud Manifesto

Amazon.com, an early leader in cloud computing, is weighing in on the so-called "Cloud Manifesto," an effort to establish principles for making cloud services work together. Microsoft has already criticized the document and raised questions about the fact that it is being drafted in secret. Amazon says it just heard about the effort and will review it, but appeared to express some skepticism.

Here's the statement from Amazon spokeswoman Kay Kinton:

We just recently heard about the manifesto document.  Like other ideas on standards and practices, we'll review this one, too. Ideas on openness and standards have been talked about for years in web services. And, we do believe standards will continue to evolve in the cloud computing space. But, what we've heard from customers thus far, customers who are really committed to using the cloud, is that the best way to illustrate openness and customer flexibility is by what you actually provide and deliver for them.  Over the past 3 years, we’ve made AWS available via multiple platforms, multiple programming languages and multiple operating systems – because that’s what customers have told us matters the most to them. We’ll continue to pursue an approach of providing customers with maximum flexibility as the standards discussion unfolds. ‪

In any event, we do believe that standards will continue to evolve and that establishing the right ones, based on a better understanding of what is needed, will best serve customers.

ZDNet offered this translation of Amazon's response: "It’s a bit early to be tossing a manifesto around about cloud computing standards."

READ MORE and COMMENT, ... http://link.gs/QCMa