Microsoft, Google claw for cloud market share with AWS

With all of the advances in the cloud, it is easy to forget that it is still in the early stages. Similar to the days of Manifest Destiny in the U.S., providers are looking to expand and are fighting for control of the cloud market share. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is on the throne and reigns supreme in the cloud market, but others -- such as Microsoft and Google -- lie in wait to unseat this powerful provider.

David Linthicum debates the future of the cloud market with Sibu Kutty, vice president and principal architect at Cloud Technology Partners. They discuss the advantages of Microsoft and Google, as well their potential to compete with AWS for the top spot. Linthicum estimates AWS has 60% of the market, but the gap could be narrowing. "The pie is big enough -- even if Amazon continues its growth -- for Microsoft and Google to catch up," Kutty said. Other topics include:

1. Is the cloud market really big enough for multiple providers to share? How can Microsoft, Google and other providers make up all of the ground behind AWS? Which offerings give Microsoft an advantage? Who are the other providers? Does the partner ecosystem -- or lack thereof -- put AWS at a disadvantage? Does core OS shoot Google to the top? "It's all Docker all the time," Linthicum said. Why are more providers adding Docker? How does Docker impact the future of the cloud market? Will the hype around Docker ever slow down?
2. The recent Joyent outages made headlines in cloud computing. Should cloud providers apologize for outages? Linthicum believes that outages are always going to be a part of the cloud world, but can they be avoided? How can users plan ahead for failures? Shouldn't moving to the cloud prevent failures such as outages? Who is really at fault? What causes outages and are certain providers better than others?  "Ultimately, you have outages for whatever reason -- some human error, some not -- and cloud providers are really going to be no different," said Linthicum. So, are outages being over-hyped?