Open Cloud Principles

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::''Note: Some countries, including the United States, have export restrictions for certain types of products. An OCP-conformant product may warn users of applicable restrictions and remind them that they are obliged to obey the law; however, it may not incorporate such restrictions itself.''
::''Note: Some countries, including the United States, have export restrictions for certain types of products. An OCP-conformant product may warn users of applicable restrictions and remind them that they are obliged to obey the law; however, it may not incorporate such restrictions itself.''
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* '''[[Wikipedia:Interoperability|Interoperability]]''': <s>Where an appropriate [[Wikipedia:Standard|standard]] exists for a given function it must be used rather than a proprietary alternative.</s>Open standards must be used (not patent encumbered, open source reference implementations, documentation and specifications under open licenses, etc.). Standards themselves must be clean and minimalist so as to be easily implemented and consumed. For example, if there is a suitable existing standard for single sign on than it must be used by default, although including support for alternative interfaces is permissible.
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<s>* '''[[Wikipedia:Interoperability|Interoperability]]''': Where an appropriate [[Wikipedia:Standard|standard]] exists for a given function it must be used rather than a proprietary alternative. Open standards must be used (not patent encumbered, open source reference implementations, documentation and specifications under open licenses, etc.). Standards themselves must be clean and minimalist so as to be easily implemented and consumed. For example, if there is a suitable existing standard for single sign on than it must be used by default, although including support for alternative interfaces is permissible.
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::''Rationale: Standards foster interoperability and competition giving rise to a fairer marketplace. The absence of standards and to a lesser extent, complex standards, have the opposite effect.''
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::''Rationale: Standards foster interoperability and competition giving rise to a fairer marketplace. The absence of standards and to a lesser extent, complex standards, have the opposite effect.''</s>
* '''[[Wikipedia:Technology|Technological]] [[Wikipedia:Neutrality_(philosophy)|Neutrality]]''': No provision of any license or agreement may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface. For example, it may not require that network clients run a certain operating system or be written in a certain programming language.
* '''[[Wikipedia:Technology|Technological]] [[Wikipedia:Neutrality_(philosophy)|Neutrality]]''': No provision of any license or agreement may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface. For example, it may not require that network clients run a certain operating system or be written in a certain programming language.

Revision as of 07:14, 8 April 2009

Contents

Notice

These principles are a placeholder only - a starting point in the form of a rough draft that has not yet been subjected to extensive review and should not be quoted.

Overview

In order to stem the abuse of the term "Open Cloud" the community is forming a set of principles which should be met by any entity that wishes to use it in association with goods and services, similar in spirit to the OSI's Open Source Definition for free software licenses.

Principles

  1. Open APIs: Machine interfaces must faithfully implement open standard APIs that have the following attributes:W3C
    1. Transparency: design/due process is public, and all technical discussions, meeting minutes, are archived and referencable in decision making
    2. Relevance: new standardization is started upon due analysis of the market needs, including requirements phase, e.g. accessibility, multi-linguism
    3. Openness: anyone can participate: industry, individual, public, government bodies, academia, on a worldwide scale
    4. Impartiality and consensus: neutral org leading it, with equal weight for each participant
    5. Availability: free access to the standard text, both during development and at final stage, translations, and clear IPR rules for implementation, allowing open source development in the case of Web technologies
    6. Support: multiple implementations, ongoing process for testing, errata, revision, permanent access
  2. Open Formats: Data must be available formatted according to a published specification for storing digital data, usually maintained by a standards organization, which basically can be used and implemented by anyone:Sun
    1. The format is based on an underlying open standard (as described above)
    2. The format is developed through a publicly visible, community driven process
    3. The format is affirmed and maintained by a vendor-independent standards organization
    4. The format is fully documented and publicly available
    5. The format does not contain proprietary extensions
  3. Open Data (Optional): The data may be open as defined by the open knowledge definition (http://opendefinition.org/1.0/) with the exception that where the data is personal in nature the data need only be made available to the user (i.e. the owner of that account):OSSD
    1. Access: The work shall be available as a whole and at no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably downloading via the Internet without charge. The work must also be available in a convenient and modifiable form.
    2. Redistribution: The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the work either on its own or as part of a package made from works from many different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale or distribution.
    3. Reuse: The license must allow for modifications and derivative works and must allow them to be distributed under the terms of the original work. The license may impose some form of attribution and integrity requirements: see principle 5 (Attribution) and principle 6 (Integrity) below.
    4. Absence of Technological Restriction: The work must be provided in such a form that there are no technological obstacles to the performance of the above activities. This can be achieved by the provision of the work in an open data format, i.e. one whose specification is publicly and freely available and which places no restrictions monetary or otherwise upon its use.
    5. Attribution: The license may require as a condition for redistribution and re-use the attribution of the contributors and creators to the work. If this condition is imposed it must not be onerous. For example if attribution is required a list of those requiring attribution should accompany the work.
    6. Integrity: The license may require as a condition for the work being distributed in modified form that the resulting work carry a different name or version number from the original work.
    7. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups: The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
    8. No Discimination Against Fields of Endeavour: The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the work in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the work from being used in a business, or from being used for military research.
    9. Distribution of License: The rights attached to the work must apply to all to whom the work is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
    10. License Must Not Be Specific to a Package: The rights attached to the work must not depend on the work being part of a particular package. If the work is extracted from that package and used or distributed within the terms of the work's license, all parties to whom the work is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original package.
    11. License Must Not Restrict the Distribution of Other Works: The license must not place restrictions on other works that are distributed along with the licensed work. For example, the license must not insist that all other works distributed on the same medium are open.
  4. Open Source (Optional): The source code for the software and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that meets the Open Source Definition or that is in the public domain:OSD
    1. Free Redistribution: The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.
    2. Source Code: The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form. Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost preferably, downloading via the Internet without charge. The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program. Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such as the output of a preprocessor or translator are not allowed.
    3. Derived Works: The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.
    4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code: The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of "patch files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time. The license must explicitly permit distribution of software built from modified source code. The license may require derived works to carry a different name or version number from the original software.
    5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups: The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
    6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavour: The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
    7. Distribution of License: The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
    8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product: The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program's license, all parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original software distribution.
    9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software: The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open-source software.
    10. License Must Be Technology Neutral: No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface.

Other isses

Rationale: Open Cloud offerings should be available to the maximum number and diversity of persons and groups. Competition must not be restricted.
  • No Barriers to Exit: There must be no obstacles in the path of an entity that make it difficult to leave. For example, a user must be able to obtain their data in a utile machine-readable form on a self-service basis. When exiting, a user should be able to ensure that all copies of all data are deleted.
Caveat: If the customer can't take the software with them as well as the data, they face serious barriers to exit.[1]
Rationale: Obstacles that prevent entites from abandoning one offering for another reduce competition, which must not be restricted.
  • No Discrimination: There must be no discrimination, including against any person or group of persons or specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in certain countries, select certain people, by a commercial endeavour, or from being used for genetic research.
Rationale: All users should be allowed to participate without arbitrary screening.
Note: Some countries, including the United States, have export restrictions for certain types of products. An OCP-conformant product may warn users of applicable restrictions and remind them that they are obliged to obey the law; however, it may not incorporate such restrictions itself.

* Interoperability: Where an appropriate standard exists for a given function it must be used rather than a proprietary alternative. Open standards must be used (not patent encumbered, open source reference implementations, documentation and specifications under open licenses, etc.). Standards themselves must be clean and minimalist so as to be easily implemented and consumed. For example, if there is a suitable existing standard for single sign on than it must be used by default, although including support for alternative interfaces is permissible.

Rationale: Standards foster interoperability and competition giving rise to a fairer marketplace. The absence of standards and to a lesser extent, complex standards, have the opposite effect.
  • Technological Neutrality: No provision of any license or agreement may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface. For example, it may not require that network clients run a certain operating system or be written in a certain programming language.
Rationale: Such restrictions limit the utility of the solution and freedom of the user by preventing them from using their preferred solution.

* Transparency: All related processes should be transparent and subject to public scrutiny from inception. Feedback from stakeholders should be solicited and incorporated with a view to reaching a community consensus. Conflicts of interest must be disclosed and should be further mitigated.

Rationale: Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability and prevents unfairly advantaging or disadvantaging certain parties.

Tasks

Acknowledgements

See also

Retrieved from "http://wiki.opencloudinitiative.org/wiki/Open_Cloud_Principles"
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