Openness and Cloud Computing, Part II

In a recent post, I wrote about cloud computing and data and how nice it would be if users could reach out and access all their data, no matter what it is, in a seamless fashion even if it resides within different services. The magic that would glue all this together would be a heavy and carefully thought-out use of open standards.

The fundamental problem with web applications is their schizophrenic nature. They tend to be simultaneously open and closed. What I mean is that many times the underlying technologies can be open (Apache, WordPress, etc. and even the HTML and scripts are readily visible) but the fact they are located in a single place makes them something of a closed system. Take the numerous photo-sharing sites that are available out there: Flickr, OviShare, Picasa Web Albums, not to mention all the sites like Facebook. These websites are open in the sense that anyone can join, more or less for free, and many of them have open APIs so that they can interface with other programs (Shozu, for example). However, they are still closed in the sense that you are limited to what services the site chooses to offer, and it is very difficult to migrate from one to another.

So, even if there is a fully open source social web application out there (picture facebook, but with all the code fully open so anyone could take it and create their own facebook site, rather than just some open APIs), you are still limited to using that particular site because if you do not, then you cannot connect with all your friends that are using that site. No matter how great the amenities of an island are, if it is cut off from the rest of the world, it still feels pretty lonely.

So, to me, the ability to plug into an application is the really important open aspect. I want my stuff to be in one place, accessible at anytime. I do not necessarily need an Apple MobileMe offering, closed and complete, so long as you only want what Apple is willing to give you. What I need is the ability to use some applications, and then plug in the missing parts via other applications, either self-written, cobbled together from other people's code, or simply accessing multiple services but having it setup in such a way that it is as seamless as going to a single service.

Today, I am going to look at Nokia's Ovi offering. Although it is not complete, you can get a good idea what it will be: offering services on a website for your mobile phone (not limited to Nokia phones, however, I can imagine a scenario where Nokia phones have a more feature-rich offering) that extends and enhances the information and content you have on your phone, making it available anywhere, and synchronizing with multiple devices. This means you get a new phone, Bam! the info is there. You are in a meeting, Bam! the info is on your PC in Outlook, Thunderbird, .mail or whatever. Now, open this offering up to not only non-Nokia phones (which generates positive benefits from network effect and creates an essentially captive audience for marketing your vision; a vision which can work everywhere but works best on Nokia handheld devices) but also to a person's everyday information management needs, such as their Files, their contacts, grocery lists, conversations, etc. and you would have an offering that blows the socks off the competitors.

This is not all here now, Nokia is just getting started and they have some interesting plans. The Share on Ovi -which does photos and videos- has a nice interaction with the Nokia Photos application that runs on the desktop. What is interesting about this, is that the Nokia Photos app is the old Lifeblog application, which doubles as a place for one to synchronize the important information on the phone, such as pictures, text messages, etc. and organizes them in a timeline so you can look back at what you were doing that day. From here, you can add the Ovi site to the application and use it to upload the photos you want, to whatever channel fits most appropriately. Of course, you can just set the phone to automatically upload the pictures when they are taken, but not everyone wants to do that. Similarly, the new Ovi Files application gives users a chance to access their files from anywhere, PC or mobile phone, any time they want. A Nokia phone is not necessary, but it works with it.

The above two examples demonstrate exactly what is better about a more open offering than one that is completely closed. This is not to say Nokia's Ovi is open in this way, but if they were to make it a bit more of a framework, where people could create their own interaction with the service, then we would really see something interesting. If it has to be monetized -although I fully expect a really good service to drive their core business, namely, selling handsets- then access limited on a user basis, with paid accounts having more access than non-paid accounts, could still provide an open offering, yet fund the service.

Any service like this -one that holds and maintains personal user data- will benefit from the use and implementation of an open model. Because it is too difficult to predict how any given person will use a service like this, the more configurable and adaptable it is, the more useful it becomes.