Cloud computing would not exist without open source software.  Will open source cloud computing will be the driving factor in helping consumers save money?  Saving money is the goal or cloud computing right?  That’s what I’ve been being told by all the large hosting giants out there.  Then why is all the different software tagged along the cloud servers so expensive?  The only thing that will help is if we standardize cloud hosting and keep it open for everyone to make improvements.  What are your thoughts on this?

Open source has been a viable option within the corporation for a long time, but it is now becoming a force for change. It is now part of the fabric of the IT industry. The IT industry that has been backward in adopting Open Source is now opening it with their arms wide open. They have always been enthusiastic users of free software and, web hosting companies in particular seem to use almost nothing else. (That in turn means that hosted bloggers like me use almost nothing else, because I use the software they provide.)

The costs of cloud services will follow a similar model to licensed software, because as the cloud business grows, its costs will fall through simple economies of scale. And, of course, the end user will probably not see much of those cost reductions. Hopefully all the early cloud server adopters will see those savings… I doubt it.