Amazon says no to Open Cloud Manifesto

Amazon Web Services seems to prefer to go its own way with cloud computing

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has become the latest big name to state that it will not be joining the controversial Open Cloud Manifesto set to launch on Monday.

The manifesto, which is supported by IBM and others, is intended as "a call to action for the worldwide cloud community", and aims to set out certain principles and guidelines for interoperability.

But Amazon reportedly said in a statement that, although it believes standards will continue to evolve, "the best way to illustrate openness and customer flexibility is by what you actually provide and deliver for them".

"Over the past three 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," the statement continued.

"We will continue to pursue an approach of providing customers with maximum flexibility as the standards discussion unfolds."

Earlier this week, Microsoft criticised the cloud manifesto. Steven Martin, senior director of developer platform management at Microsoft, said in a blog posting that he was disappointed in the lack of openness so far.

"It appears to us that one company, or just a few companies, would prefer to control the evolution of cloud computing, as opposed to reaching a consensus across key stakeholders [including cloud users] through an 'open' process," he said.

The Open Cloud Manifesto states that it is designed for "chief information officers, governments, IT users and business leaders who intend to use cloud computing and to establish a set of core principles for cloud providers".