Any software licensing scheme that counts the number of processors, servers, or virtual instances is fundamentally Cloud-unfriendly. In the pre-Cloud days, servers were expensive and difficult to install and configure, so we operated in the context of scarcity: add a server, pay a lot of money. The Cloud changes this equation to one of abundance: instances are cheap, plentiful, and easy to configure, so nothing we put on a particular instance should cost us very much or have much importance in and of itself.
ZapThink likes nothing better than to poke a stick at a hornets’ nest, and our last ZapFlash did not disappoint. We discussed how private Clouds weakened the enterprise value proposition for Cloud Computing, eliciting consternation far and wide, not from enterprises implementing such Clouds, but from consultants and vendors in the business of building and outfitting them. To which we say: well, duh! Cloud Computing is a paradigm shift precisely because we won’t need to hire pricey consultants or buy a lot of gear to use them!