VMware open sources Microsoft Azure killer

VMware has open sourced a new platform for building application development services along the lines of Microsoft Azure or Google App Engine, hoping to spawn an army of so-called "platform clouds" that aren't run by Microsoft or Google. These sky-high services can be run behind the firewall ("private clouds" in the …

[Steve Davies 3]

Eh?

quote

VMware has open sourced a new platform for building application development services along the lines of Microsoft Azure or Google App Engine, hoping to spawn an army of so-called "platform clouds" that aren't run by Microsoft or Google.

So what about the clouds run by Amazon and almost every DataCentre Operator/Hosting company in existance?

At least you are allowing comments unlike Mr Orlowski otherwise it would be the grande for you.

Paris cos she knows when she gets it wrong...

[Anonymous Coward]

cloudy

"So what about the clouds run by Amazon and almost every DataCentre Operator/Hosting company in existance?"

Those are slightly different to Azure and Google App Engine because they essentially offer virtual servers on which you run code. You can for example get a virtual Windows server on Amazon EC2, but that is not the same as Azure which is an environment that runs .NET apps (with some modifications in places).

Whether one is better than the other is open to debate, but there is a subtle difference.

[HaroldJRoth]

A single machiine would be a 'nano cloud'

With all due respect, the term 'Micro cloud' is misleading. Microsoft have published a paper citing that a 'micro data center' consists of a few thousand servers. The term 'micro cloud' has been used in conjunction with such data centers. Thus, a single server would be more appropriately called a 'nano cloud'.

Said paper: http://ccr.sigcomm.org/online/files/p68-v39n1o-greenberg.pdf