Open Stack

Excerpts from Robert Collins's message of 2014-09-23 21:14:47 -0700:
> No one helped me edit this :)
> 
> http://rbtcollins.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/what-poles-for-the-tent/
> 
> I hope I haven't zoned out and just channelled someone else here ;)
> 

This sounds like "API's are what matters." You did spend some time
working with Simon Wardley, didn't you? ;)

I think it's a sound argument, but I'd like to banish the term "reference
implementation" from any discussions around what OpenStack, as a project,
delivers. It has too many negative feelings wrapped up in it.

I also want to call attention to how what you describe feels an awful
lot like POSIX to me. Basically offering guarantees of API compatibility,
but then letting vendors run wild around and behind it.

I'm not sure if that is a good thing, or a bad thing. I do, however,
think if we can avoid a massive vendor battle that involves multiple
vendors pushing multiple implementations, we will save our companies a
lot of money, and our users will get what they need sooner.