Very narrow minded article IMO
The author has several good points. But whats with this cloud fascination? Customers who are currently using the cloud couldn't care less. Whether their stuff sits in the cloud or on a single server; as long as it works they're happy. That has absolutely /nothing/ to do with cloud nor open source. The cloud became popular because it was cheaper to use than regular hosting solutions.
You can't use "cloud" as a general entity anymore. I have a dozen virtual servers thus I'm using "the cloud" they say. A friend of mine got website hosting, thus he has webspace with a database to use. Guess what; he's also using "the cloud", or so they say.
How come that I have to perform maintenance and he doesn't? Didn't we both use "the cloud', or so you (dear author) tried to make us believe ?
"Open source has largely been a boon to developers, to vendors."
Nonsense. With this sentence you totally ignore the effects which open source and OSS in general have had on the market.
Back in the day, as an end user, I had to pay (from mind) approx. E 500,- to E 600,- to get my hands on a legit version of Microsoft Office. Keep in mind: that was it; full Office, no more, no less!
Nowadays? I can pick up a full Office for approx. E 120,- now, if I want a little more (say Outlook) I pay no more than approx. E 300,-. And that's not all; if I agree with MS' policy and get myself a Windows Live ID then I'll even get 25Gb online storage, Office webapps and means for (small) collaborating services in the same deal!
Do you /really/ think this would have been possible when solutions such as Star Office, Open Office and Libre Office ("open source software") weren't around? And that's just one example!
What have you been smoking lately? ;-)