Our Digital Content Editor Libby Clark is away from the office this week, so I’m bringing you the Linux.com Open Cloud Roundup. The release of ownCloud 4, and the data surfaced from the Future of Open Source survey provide some interesting news bits this week, while Reuven Cohen and Matt Asay both make interesting points about the trajectory of cloud computing in their blogs.
Build Your Own Open Source Cloud with ownCloud 4
ZDNet
Steven Vaughan-Nichols writes a useful review of this week’s ownCloud 4 release, pointing to its ease-of-use and saying that “ownCloud brings everything I need in one place so that I can run my own cloud my own way.” The best thing about ownCloud is you can keep all your data on your own servers and choose the other public clouds with which you want to integrate.
Open Source Finds its Way into Mobile, Cloud, Big Data
eWeek
A group of open source software companies this week released The Future of Open Source Survey, which we covered here at Linux.com. One of the interesting findings that eWeek surfaced in their story lead is that 40 percent of new open source projects in 2011 address cloud computing (followed by mobile apps and mobile enterprise projects). This reflects the importance of Linux and open source software in enabling an open cloud experience for IT users who need interoperability, low costs and flexibility.
Interest in Cloud Computing Has Peaked
Forbes.com
Reuven Cohen makes a case, based on web search data, that interest in the cloud has peaked. He shares data that shows web searches for cloud computing terms are down and points to Gartner’s Hype Cycle to illustrate we’re headed into the phase defined as the “trough of disillusionment.” This is when the real winners and losers are exposed and real products start coming to market and real deployments can be analyzed from start to finish. The next phase? “Slope of enlightenment.” We can’t wait.
Red Hat Could Cash In With Open Source Cloud Juggling Act
The Register
While this post is a summary of Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst’s OSBC keynote, Matt Asay makes some really important points about the role of Linux and open source software in the cloud. Here are just a couple excerpts:
“Cloud computing is all the rage these days, but it’s really a natural consequence of the open-source trend that started decades ago. Cloud computing is essentially impossible in any major way without open-source software at its heart, a point Google has stressed for years. The economics just don’t work without high-quality free software with minimal licensing friction.”
“We see this in the explosion of interest in Big Data, but that’s just the sexy, Silicon Valley way of articulating the shift toward information-driven businesses. Those businesses can only afford to be so information-driven, however, because of how open source and other technology forces have dramatically lowered the cost of computing and communication.”
Seems to me we need to ask Matt to do another Q&A with us here on Linux.com about this topic (hint hint, Matt).
Until next week.
