Major Vendors and FSF Announce Instigation of Cloud Alliance and New Open Source License

Sons Oftheinternet sonsoftheinternet at gmail.com
Wed Apr 1 01:55:22 UTC 2009


 *PRESS RELEASE
**
http://tinyurl.com/cloudleft

Major Vendors and FSF Announce Instigation of Cloud Alliance and New Open
Source License
*
CLOUD 9, THE CLOUD®, April 1 2009 (CCT): Today, major cloud vendors, in
conjunction with the Free Software Foundation (FSF), announced the imminent
creation of the Free™ and Open™ Cloud Alliance™ (FOCA), an industry-wide
trade marketing association supporting Free™ and Open™ Cloud Computing™
(FOCC).   The group also pre-announced the release of a new license for
cloud computing, the "CloudLeft Public License (CPL)".  The event coincides
with the close of the Cloud Computing Expo in New York City. Full details
will be available next Monday.

The major vendors describe the effort as a vehicle for promoting
interoperability of ALL information technology (IT) systems, ensuring they
are Free™ and Open™.  In support of the first marketing and outreach program
- "FOCC: IT in 2009" - FOCA is sponsoring a technical oversight group, the
ZOMG!, which will create a Technical Committee to deliver the CloudLeft
Reference Application Platform, a Reference Model for the Management of
Free™ Cloud™ Management Systems for Management of Clouds™.

 "In the past, I've said that 'cloud' is complete gibberish, but while
discussing fashion during my weekly squash game with Stallman he convinced
me that this was a great opportunity.  It's not often that a vendor group
devoid of products can so easily and quickly get the marketing upper hand,
and by partnering with the FSF, we should be able to get the free software
community completely on board with us" said Larry Ellison, Chairman and CEO
of Oracle™. "I'm really excited about working more with Stallman, " he
added. "I've always been a supporter of the Free™ software movement, and
being able to play a key role in the creation of a new license is very
important to me.  This should be a great way to level the playing field --
even small players like retail booksellers can get involved."

This new license, the "CloudLeft Public License (CPL)", is the logical
extension of the Free™ software philosophy to The Cloud®.  It is based on
two fundamental ideas; that data wants to be Free™, and all your Cloud™ are
belong to us. Building on these core tenets, the license ensures that
software running on as well as data passing through a CloudLeft platform
will be Free™ and made available to anyone connected to the internet,
whether via REST, web services or SOA - even over IPv6.

"Clouds want to be Free™", said Richard M. Stallman, Founder of the Free
Software Foundation.  "While I've said that cloud computing is 'worse than
stupidity', we found that licensing was lax due to the so-called "user data
loophole", even after plugging the "service provider loophole" last year.
I'm proud to introduce the "CloudLeft Public License (CPL)", under which
both the source code for, and data passing through, a CloudLeft platform
will be Free™.  This license also reintroduces the advertising clause,
requiring you to use the name 'GNU/Cloud'.  I'm tired of haranguing the
GNU/Linux community about this."

The analyst community has been quick to embrace FOCC.  "Finally someone gets
what we've been saying for years.  Subscription models suck.  Data wants to
be free." said James Governor, analyst at Redmonk, "Except for our
reports".  According to Gartner, "CloudLeft renders five of the seven main
security risks void by making all data available for everyone to see, while
simultaneously dispensing with the number two concern by appropriately
setting users' expectation of privacy."

FOCA is holding events this week all over New York City, in multiple secret
locations to be revealed on Monday.  Working to unify and harmonize the
cloud computing community, FOCA will bring together representatives from the
various cloud standards and alliance efforts in a one day workshop, "Go FOCC
Yourself", dedicated to achieving semantic, taxonomic and ontological
consistency amongst all stakeholders. FOCA is also sponsoring "Free™Camp",
an un-conference for people interested in Cloud™, Free™dom and related
topics.  Admission is Free™, and Free™ as in beer refreshments will be
provided.  Dial 1-800-FOCC-ME to find one near you.

###

*Free™ is a trademark of the Free Software Foundation. "The Cloud®" is a
registered trademark of The University of Georgia. Cloud Computing is not a
trademark of Dell Computer, Inc.*


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