---
title: 15 Ways to Tell Its Not Cloud Computing
date: 2008-03-13T16:47:42Z
modified: 2008-03-13T16:47:42Z
permalink: "https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/15-ways-to-tell-its-not-cloud-computing/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 1468
categories:
  - Uncategorized
timestamp: 2008-03-13T16:47:42Z
tags:
  - Uncategorized
---

![](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1314/1004198774_a51cda1e59.jpg?v=0)

If you peel back the label and its says “Grid” or “[OGSA](http://www.globus.org/ogsa/)” underneath… its not a cloud.

If you need to send a 40 page requirements document to the vendor then… it is not cloud.

If you can’t buy it on your personal credit card… it is not a cloud

If they are trying to sell you hardware… its not a cloud.

If there is no API… its not a cloud.

If you need to rearchitect your systems for it… Its not a cloud.

If it takes more than ten minutes to provision… its not a cloud.

If you can’t deprovision in less than ten minutes… its not a cloud.

If you know where the machines are… its not a cloud.

If there is a consultant in the room… its not a cloud.

If you need to specify the number of machines you want upfront… its not a cloud.

If it only runs one operating system… its not a cloud.

If you can’t connect to it from your own machine… its not a cloud.

If you need to install software to use it… its not a cloud.

If you own all the hardware… its not a cloud.

If it takes 20 slides to explain…. its not a cloud \[update: 4:58 4th February 2009\]

with input from [Alexis Richardson](http://www.linkedin.com/search?search=&sik=1205376396364&keywords=alexis+richardson&sortCriteria=4), of CohesiveFT’s [Elastic Server on Demand](http://cohesiveft.com/index.php), nicely written up [here](http://blogs.zdnet.com/SAAS/?p=461) by Phil Wainewright.

[image](http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike9alive/1004198774/) courtesy of [Mike9Alive](http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike9alive/) under Creative Commons [Attribution 2.0 Generic license](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en).