We all know Rackspace right?  They are one of the largest  hosting companies and a cloud computing service provider on the planet.  They are the 2nd largest cloud hosting company out there.  They are gambeling that big customers will prefer an open, free roaming cloud to one with a proprietary wrapper. On Monday, the company heralded the launch of OpenStack, an open-source take on the underlying technology behind cloud computing services.

Large organizations Dell, Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and NASA have signed on to back the OpenStack idea and think that it will change the future.  Companies like Amazon.com, Microsoft, Google, VMware and I.B.M. often hold discussions around building standards in the cloud computing arena. And  various programs are under way to make it easier to move data from one cloud service to another, so that customers feel as if they have real choice in this market.

Do you think open source cloud hosting is the answer?

My thoughts on open source cloud hosting:
It will help standardize the arena.  I don’t know if a company like Rackspace should be behind it, but I do believe that it will help. Open source software is critical to the growth of both software-as-a-service and cloud computing, and cloud-based computing in turn is making it easier for open source vendors to lower costs.