Google casts its lot with Debian
Just in time for Google I/O, Google will support the Debian Linux distribution in its Google App Engine, which is still in preview mode. From now on, Debian will be the “default image mode” for GAE, according to the Google AppEngine Blog. Google cited Debian’s improved handling of 32/64 bit compatibility as one reason for the move
According to the Thursday blog post:
“Today we’re adding Debian images for Google Compute Engine. Debian, in collaboration with us, is providing images for both Debian 7.0 “wheezy” and the previous stable release, Debian 6.0 “squeeze.” This support will make it easy for anyone using Debian today to migrate their workloads onto Compute Engine.”
A Google spokesperson told eWeek that “customers will get a great experience having a Linux distribution that is maintained by the Debian community. Debian and derivatives thereof (such as Mint and Ubuntu) are among the most popular on the Internet, and Google itself is a heavy contributor to the Debian code base. We will also continue to offer CentOS, and are actively exploring other operating system options based on feedback from our customers.”
Google has a complicated relationship with the open source world. Most of its underpinnings are built on open source software and it does contribute a lot of technology to the community. But its own infrastructure is seen as a black box to many in that community. It’s interesting that there were a grand total of two comments as of Sunday on this blog post — one was removed and the other offered good wishes but added “the thing I’d like to see in future is how community members could be part of this project.”
While Google isn’t saying, folks expect the company will announce general availability of Google Compute Engine, which will compete with Amazon Web Services this week at the big show. GCE was announced last June and the preview was expanded to anyone paying for Gold support last month. Many cloud watchers say GCE, once fully available, will be the second-largest IaaS in terms of capacity after Amazon Web Services or AWS. Microsoft launched its Windows Azure IaaS capabilities in April.
In other words, buckle up, the cloud wars we’ve seen so far, are going to get rougher.
New tool allows AWS management from Microsoft consoles
Speaking of AWS and Microsoft, the new AWS Management Pack for Microsoft System Center means that a Windows admin at a company — at least one running System Center 2012 — can now use one console to monitor on-premises Windows resources as well as EC2 Linux or Windows instances, Elastic Load Balancing, CloudFormation and Elastic Beanstalk running on AWS.
As GigaOM PRO analyst Janakiram MSV pointed out in his report Thursday (subscription required), this move is just one more example of Amazon’s push into the enterprise where Windows reigns. He points out that Tom Rizzo, a Microsoft vet, headed up this project at Amazon. Janakiram wrote:
“In 2010, Microsoft launched the Management Pack for Windows Azure deployments making it easier to manage on-premise and cloud infrastructure. Customers running Windows-based workloads on Amazon EC2 had to use a different set of tools based on Amazon CloudWatch, Nagios, OpsView, Nimsoft or other third-party software to monitor their deployments. Through the AWS Management Pack, Amazon made it easy for enterprise IT teams to manage the servers running within on-premise, Windows Azure and AWS. Microsoft enterprise customers will welcome this.”
Interestingly Rizzo’s AWS blog post does not mention that the console was part of a joint effort with Microsoft, something that Microsoft rectified in it’s post about the news a day later.
Adobe tests the market for all-cloud delivery
Well, my post on Adobe’s plan to move all updates of Creative Suite to a subscription service characterized it as a low-risk gamble. For Adobe anyway. Well, gauging by reader response,I should have talked to more graphic designers and artists who are fighting mad. Many vowed to stick with their old version as long as possible and then seek other non-Adobe options. Their beef? That even $ 50 per month per user will end up costing them way more than the current pay-once-use-forever model.
A Change.org petition asking Adobe to rethink its plan had more than 8,500 signatories as of Sunday morning
At any rate, Microsoft ,which has more at stake here than anyone with its zillions of Office users, was quick to weigh in. In short, it says subscription SaaS is the way of the future because it ensures users are always on the latest-and-greatest versions and can use their subscriptions across devices. But:
” … unlike Adobe, we think people’s shift from packaged software to subscription services will take time. Within a decade, we think everyone will choose to subscribe because the benefits are undeniable. In the meantime, we are committed to offering choice–premier software sold as a package and powerful services sold as a subscription.”
News from around the web:
From Data Center Knowledge: Equinix unveils new crown jewel Ashburn Campus
From GigaOM: Box acquires Crocadoc to make document previews richer
From CITEworld: Office web apps: Not bad for free, but on demand is way better
From TechCrunch: Microsoft to fold Yammer sales team into Office 365, identity surfaces as a core focus
From GigaOM: Laggard Rackspace growth sparks concerns: is there enough cloud growth to go around?
From Fox Business News; U.S. judge orders Hewlett-Packard to face shareholder lawsuit
From InformationWeek: Google I/O preview
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