While a portion of the OpenStack community is committed to the “free” software model, numerous developers have embraced the software with the intention of using it as the foundation for a proprietary platform. While that could lead to some tension between those developers with differing philosophies, Engates views that as better than the alternative. “Is it better to have a proprietary stack with no alternative?” he asked. “Or is it better to have an open-source platform here everyone has the source code at some level?”

via Cloud Computing Needs to Embrace the Linux Model: Rackspace CTO.