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VMware vs. OpenStack: Plenty of pundits are debating the merits of each platform for cloud computing. Now for a twist: Within the cloud storage market, the recent hot rumor involves VMware (VMW) potentially buying Rackspace (RAX) in order to disrupt potential competition from OpenStack, the open source cloud platform. Here’s a reality check.

The cloud computing strategies at Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM have a common thread. It’s called OpenStack — the open source cloud platform. The VAR Guy therefore asks an obvious question: Is OpenStack a path forward for hardware partners that are seeking to develop public and private cloud services strategies? Here's the analysis.

Mark Shuttleworth’s eagerness to declare victory over RHEL notwithstanding, it’s clear that Ubuntu still has a lot of growing to do in the server room. But it came one step closer to becoming a leader on that front recently with the introduction of official Ubuntu cloud images to Amazon’s EC2 interface. Here are the details, and what they say about where Ubuntu may be headed in the cloud.

Mid-March is a time ripe for overhauling traditional power structures — or it was, at least, in ancient Rome. But if former Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth is correct in his claim this week that Ubuntu is overtaking Red Hat in the world of Linux servers, we may be in the midst of a major shake-up in the open-source hierarchy as well. Is Shuttleworth right, or will this trend prove no more enduring than Brutus‘ brief reign after he murdered Caesar? Here are some thoughts.

At this point, there’s no denying that Linux — despite high hopes early-on — is a late-entry to the world of tablets. But that doesn’t mean open-source enthusiasts have written off this segment of the hardware market. On the contrary, a number of initiatives to make Linux a viable choice for tablet users are in rapid development. Read on for a look.

Chatter about Hewlett-Packard’s forthcoming public cloud grows louder. And I gotta admit: I like what I’m hearing. More and more of the buzz involves OpenStack — the open source cloud computing platform. HP’s apparent goal: Use OpenStack to launch a public cloud that also allows enterprise customers to build private clouds, if they so wish. Here are the potential risks and rewards for HP.

Rackspace has recently added some more open source talent to its cloud services and hosting team.The recent recruit is Andrew Shafer co-founder of Puppet Labs and former VP of Engineering at CloudScaling. Shafer will help Rackspace’s Cloud Builders and OpenStack teams develop products and bring them to market more quickly. Here's the update.

Who runs Ubuntu? Where, why and how? That’s a question lots of people — including probably even Canonical employees — would like to be able to answer better. Toward this end, a survey of general Ubuntu users is underway. Here’s the scoop.

Canonical seems to be cooperating with upstream manufacturers to bring better hardware support to Ubuntu. Here’s how, and what it means for the lives of Linux users everywhere.

The VAR Guy thinks Linux Netbooks may have fallen into a pool filled with chilly water. The apparent result: Continued market shrinkage. Alas, The VAR Guy doesn’t have official market data to share. But three pieces of circumstantial evidence suggest the Linux Netbook market continues to decline in North America while the Apple iPad and tablets continue to rise. Here’s why.

Within the halls of Microsoft, a cordial but strategic debate is emerging. Some leaders within the company want Microsoft to describe itself as the world’s biggest cloud software provider. Here's why.

The Linux chess match between Red Hat and Oracle now involves a showdown on long-term support strategies. Indeed, both Red Hat and Oracle recently extended their Linux support life cycles to a lengthy 10 years. Here's the background.

Like so many other telecom services providers, CDLAN is trying to push into cloud services. For CDLAN, the path to SaaS and cloud services involves an open source twist: Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Is this a sign of things to come for Red Hat? Here's the analysis.

Cloud database monitoring is a hot, growing opportunity for cloud services providers and managed services providers. That's where Monitis enters the picture -- offering a cloud-based MySQL database monitoring tool. Here's the scoop.

Microsoft’s Hyper-V virtualization and the OpenStack open source cloud platform apparently aren’t seeing eye to eye — at least for the moment. In fact, an upcoming OpenStack release called Essex will not support Hyper-V because the OpenStack folks saw lagging Microsoft development activity on OpenStack. But here's the twist.

Roughly one year after Attachmate acquired Novell and the SUSE Linux business, SUSE is showing several signs of progress. The SUSE organization seems more nimble and far more focused on strategic partnerships and customer acquisition, The VAR Guy senses. Here’s the update — along with some lingering challenges that the SUSE team must address.

In case there was any doubt that the long-term success of Canonical is tied in large part to Ubuntu’s viability as a desktop solution for businesses, Canonical CEO Jane Silber recently announced a new official spin of Ubuntu tailored at just that market. Will Ubuntu Business Desktop Remix soon find its way to an office near you? That may be too early to say, but here’s a look at what the latest Ubuntu flavor is all about.

Digium is best known for promoting Asterisk, the open source IP PBX. Now, Digium is pushing out to network endpoints and introducing its first IP phones. Will businesses embrace complete phone systems from Digium? Here's the update.

It seems to be a weekly event. Every few days, a major Linux distribution introduces a new type of integration with Amazon Web Services. The usual suspects include Canonical, Red Hat and SUSE. For cloud integrators seeking to link on-premises systems with public cloud services, the Linux-to-Amazon relationships are worth watching closely. Here's why.

Dell’s OEM Solutions division today said it will offer customized SUSE Linux Enterprise servers to customers. But the far more interesting nugget of information for partners involves SUSE Studio, which Dell will use to build and deploy customized Linux stacks.