Re: Please let's not talk about "clouds"
> Now I know what you are referring to. This is remote virtual computer
> rental.
No. Cloud IaaS is very different from just "virtual computer".
I said "remote virtual computer rental", not just "virtual computer".
If what you're talking about is different from remote virtual computer
rental, then I don't understand clearly. What, concretely, is the
difference?
> Ethically it is a totally different issue from SaaS.
In both cases, you rely on the underlying installed things by the provider.
I don't think that is inherently a problem. Not that as such.
> What does "proprietary" mean in the context of remote virtual server
> rental?
We don't have the source code of AWS or Azure. But we do have the source
code for OpenStack
Is AWS a program, or is it a service?
In other words, does Amazon offer you a copy of AWS (a program),
or is it a service that you might communicate with thru an API?
It is a category error to describe a service as "proprietary" (or as
"free"). If AWS is a service, then it isn't proprietary, and it isn't
free.
IaaS clouds have very rich APIs and a huge amount of features.
When you call something a "cloud", you confuse it with many other
things; as a result, I have no idea what it really is. I will replace
"cloud" with "thingumajig". It conveys the same concrete information
(none at all), but has the virtue of being honest about conveying no
information.
What sort of things are these APIs used to do? Some of them might be
SaaSS -- it depends on the substance of what they do.
Also, remember that you can rent a "private IaaS cloud" from these
providers using OpenStack.
I don't know what a private IaaS thingumajig is.
--
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin St
Boston MA 02110
USA
www.fsf.org www.gnu.org
Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software.
Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call
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