Chris Keene's "Keene View" Blog

For cloud computing to take off, there need to be tools available that enable a developer to build and deploy an application without having to download anything to their desktop. This requires an on-demand development tool that sits on top of the cloud and provides a development Platform as a Service (PaaS).

There are two paths that a vendor can take to create a development platform for cloud computing: cloud-first or tool-first.

• Cloud-first approach to PaaS: first build a cloud platform, then build a development tool that runs on top of it. This is the approach pioneered by Force.com and followed by Coghead and Bungee Labs.


• Tool-first approach to PaaS: first build a development platform that is host-able tool (e.g., studio runs in a browser), then "push" that platform into the cloud. This is the approach taken by WaveMaker.

For Force.com, it made a great deal of sense to take the cloud-first approach. SalesForce.com already had a robust cloud platform and expertise in building proprietary development tools to create their CRM application. There was also no requirement to make Force.com work on any other cloud, because SalesForce is aiming to be the only cloud you will ever need for all your enterprise apps.

For most software vendors, however, the cloud-first development process has distinct disadvantages. First of all, it puts you in the data center operations business, which requires a very different DNA than software development. Next, it makes development itself difficult, because the cloud adds a level of indirection and complexity to all development tasks. Finally, you will be forced to do cloud port eventually to get to a SaaS cloud people want to deploy on, like Amazon EC2 or Google App Engine (assuming they ever exit the Python ghetto).

A tool-first approach to PaaS development is much more straightforward. You start by creating a host-able development studio (pretty much rules out Eclipse plugins) and do your build and test on standard hardware. After you have build a solid product, you add multi-tenancy to the studio and customize deployment for your cloud of choice (or use a partner like Elastra to do the deployment and administration for you).

A final oddity of the cloud-first vendors is that they have all delivered proprietary development platforms. This provides a "roach motel" level of lock-in - your logic and data can checkin, but just try moving them to another RIA or AJAX platform! Again, SalesForce can throw its 500-pound gorilla weight around and make the Apex language successful. It is hard to imagine, however, that 5 years from now people who have learned the Coghead language will be in more demand than, say, Java developers.

• What's the Difference Between Cloud Computing and SaaS?
• Cloud Computing - The User-Friendly Version of Grid Computing
• One Consumer-Facing Usage of Cloud Computing: SaaS
• Cloud Computing Expo - The World Wide Cloud: Bridging the Data Center and The Cloud
• Cloud Computing Expo - Deploying Into the Clouds: Concepts, Benefits and Experiences
• rPath Founder & CEO to Present at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo
• Cloud Computing Expo - Elastic Computing vs. Cloud Computing: What's the Difference and When Do You Use Them?
• Cloud Computing Expo: Introducing the Cloud Pyramid
• Merrill Lynch Estimates "Cloud Computing" To Be $100 Billion Market
• Cloud Computing: Who Can Help Me Get an Application onto EC2 and Storage onto S3?
• Cloud Computing and Open Source
• Creating a Common Cloud Computing Reference API - Part One
• Cloud Computing: The Rise of Cloud Platforms and Why the OS Doesn’t Matter
• Five Key Challenges of Enterprise Cloud Computing
• AJAX-Based Applications & Cloud Computing
• Microsoft's Cloud Platform Vision is Coming Together
• Virtualization Is Not Cloud Computing
• Cloud Computing Will Eventually Require Orchestration
• The Rise and Rise of Cloud Computing
• Google Chrome and Business Intelligence in the Cloud
• Cloud Computing & Content Delivery Networks
• Cloud Computing Is Making Serious Inroads in the Consumer Space
• Who Has the Industry Lead in Cloud Computing?
• Cloud Computing Keynote at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo November 19-21 in Silicon Valley
• What Does Obama Revolution Mean to Cloud Computing?
• Why Are There No Clouds Yet in Turkey?
• Cloud Computing Is Far More Than Just Cutting Enterprise IT Costs
• Ten Key Reasons Enterprise Cloud Computing Is Going Places
• Oracle-Sun Great for Cloud Computing...or Not
• Nan Desu-ka? Fujitsu Offers Early-Failure Detection for Cloud Computing
• Multi-Tenancy – Crucial Requirement for Cloud Computing Service Providers