When To Use Open Source in the Enterprise -- And When To Avoid It

"The recent collaboration between Rackspace and NASA on the open source cloud called OpenStack marks a turning point for open source software projects, which creative IT people have hidden away from their bosses for years.

"RackSpace, a Web hosting provider, and NASA, the nation's space agency -- which has been developing a scalable, secure cloud for its scientists -- agreed to donate their code to a non-profit, and 27 companies (mostly technology vendors) signed up to participate.

"For RackSpace, OpenStack is a chance to avoid getting locked in to some other vendor's cloud software and to focus on what it does best -- managing data centers, the company says. NASA, which has been under pressure from the government to cut its costs, gets access to new outside technology for free."

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