Expert comment: OpenStack farce and the Future of cloud

For a while, I was fascinated by OpenStack, an exciting Open-source project that has evolved into a "http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/10666.html" for data centers > Cloud operating system. Last week, however, it suffered a heavy blow from Citrix, and as a chartered member of the OpenStack camp, Citrix suddenly claimed to have lost confidence in OpenStack, declared its exit and created an Open-source project of its own cloudstack-- This is the same functionality as Citrix's own cloud software.

I think such a farce is not unexpected. OpenStack's ambition is great. As a collaborative project launched by Rackspace and NASA (NASA), OpenStack boasts a large and growing cloud service that includes virtual machine management, object storage, machine image management, And the latest version of Essex also increased identity authentication and dashboard monitoring services. The idea is that anyone can use OpenStack under the Apache 2 License framework to create their own openstack versions, just as many vendors develop their own Linux distributions based on the Linux kernel. Citrix also seems to support this pattern.

But Citrix said no. We believe that some components of openstack are naïve and slow to grow, Citrix said. We think the cloud operating system is a very good idea, customers have this request, but they want to use it now, and not wait until OpenStack mature and then use. When I asked the Citrix spokesperson, the OpenStack project was managed in a way that was not the reason for Citrix's exit and was quickly answered with a positive answer. The answer clearly suggests that OpenStack is a disorganized project with too many cooks chefs and a lack of centralized co-ordination.

Nebula's CEO, Chris Kemp, is a member of the OpenStack project's NASA side, and what he sees is somewhat different. Just last week he gave InfoWorld's special editor, Oliver Rist, a blunt assertion: "I think Citrix is lying." "In his view, Citrix was actually invested in the cloud.com that it bought 200 million dollars last year, so it is now necessary to provide more core code for the Cloudstack developed by the latter."

I don't want to comment on the real motives of Citrix, or on who's technology is better, or at least wait until the InfoWorld Test Center makes a horizontal evaluation. From a certain level, you could say the dispute is a rackspace of interest between Citrix and the world, and a clash of two second-rate manufacturers in cloud computing. Kemp that "Citrix's contribution to the Cloudstack, which is also open source, is not an outsider's field." But Rackspace told me that Rackspace contributed "about 60% of the code" to OpenStack, presumably with the code bought from NASA.

Either way, both are open source projects – in fact, it's amazing how open source projects can leave such brilliant footprints in such an important new field. But none of this is happening in a vacuum. EMC's VMware is piecing together its complex commercial cloud solutions to extend its application management. Given the long-term leadership of VMware in the virtualization arena, it is entirely possible for the industry to launch a fully fledged cloud solution first. Microsoft is also pushing ahead with a strong combination of its proprietary cloud software.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)