Package management and the Cloud
Cloud computing can be great, but management paradigms need to change for more people to consume resources on-demand.
I've written in the past that the Cloud needs some akin to Linux package management in order for it to be more manageable and allow for easier deployment.
The guys at El Reg asked me to write up a piece for their Developer site. Here's a snippet:
For the cloud to become more like an operating system and less like an amorphous mass, and by definition more useful to business, some basic functions need to become part of the fabric.
By that, I mean seamless (and near invisible) integration with the underlying infrastructure components (operating system, virtual machine, hardware, networking). These kinds of things will drive developers to the cloud and make it a more manageable environment. Package management, akin to what's found in Linux distros, is one milestone that seems the easiest for existing and aspiring providers of cloud services to achieve.