As the mists of cloud computing start to finally clear, there are questions in the air as to whether a lack of standards and an oversupply of open source 'innovations' will lead us towards unregulated stormy skies -- as opposed to a brand new wide blue yonder for computing.

Earlier this month we saw the launch of the OpenStack initiative, which it is hoped will alleviate the potential risk of platform lock-in at any level. It is too early to say whether any of the 30 or so companies behind OpenStack ultimately feel that the program has a blunting affect upon their own innovative edge.

It will depend on the application in question according to Nathaniel Borenstein, chief scientist at cloud-based email management company Mimecast. Borenstein points out that open source should not be regarded as a panacea and that, as a computing discipline, it will always be suited to some types of software and file formats than others.

You can read a complete interview with Borenstein here.