Cloud computing is privatized, at the moment, but with technology moving towards open source the Cloud Tweaks blog asks the question, “Any Future for Open Source Cloud Computing?”  Open source and Cloud computing were made to work together.  Both lower costs and stop commercial companies from dominating the market.  Both open source and Cloud computing are in a turbulent market, but if they are paired together they will become even more powerful.  Cloud computing will allow users to access free source code and share it with others as it is constantly updated and changed.

The article gives an idea of how the future of Cloud computing may look:

The future prospects will converge around the ‘need-use-gratification’ system. Chances are that a cooperative cloud model of computing will emerge, inspired by the open business model. To get the idea, imagine a vast barter market where people develop and exchange services and ideas, improving them in the process and, thus, adding value to the barter services. This would also mean that efforts may be consolidated and infrastructures shared in order to attain better scales. This prospect is emerging in what can be referred to as ‘cloud federation’, a growing endeavor in the world of open source cloud computing.

OpenStack and Amazon Eucalyptus are already key players in the game.  Open source Cloud computing will be the future, because it will become more secure as issues are addressed and it gives users more options to access data.  My question is, what devices will be used to access it?  Whether you are on the Cloud or an enterprise platform, you will still need a robust search application, such as LucidWorks.

Whitney Grace, September 26, 2012

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