A recent SmartMoney article tells us that Microsoft's chief software architect is concerned  that cloud services could undermine the company's margins over the long term. He also said that there was probably room only for a few players in the cloud.

We beg to differ. IT Service Providers already have the core competencies required to deliver on the promise of cloud computing.  And profit margins are present in cloud storage. In the recent meetings on Cloud Storage at the SNIA Cloud Storage Technical Work Group, one of the specific topics was cloud interoperability, a discussion that assumes multiple clouds by multiple service providers.

Read more on this subject on my blog.

• The Business of Cloud Computing: Ozzie on Cloud Margins
• Ray Ozzie: Who Can Keep Microsoft From "Growing Old Inside"?
• Microsoft's Ray Ozzie Thinks It's Still Early Days for Cloud Computing