OpenStack: The Myth of the Middle By @BlueBoxJesse | @CloudExpo #OpenStack #Microservices

The middle is where self-declared reasonable minds gather to split the difference between seemingly irresolvable extremes. And so it is with OpenStack. Back in the wild-West days of Diablo and Essex, agile app dev ardents attracted by the open alternative of OpenStack had two choices: build it yourself (DIY), or sign up with Rackspace. Polar opposites in just about every regard. Then, a wave of startups pledged to offer a middle ground, populated with software distributions and appliances to simplify the path from zero to OpenStack. While the promise of this new-found middle ground was grand, it hasn't quite panned out. Today, the only distributions gaining any traction are primarily from Mirantis and Red Hat, the former fueled by crafty strategy and dogged determination, the latter fueled by a massive RHEL install base and account control. Back in the wild-West days of Diablo and Essex, agile app dev ardents attracted by the open alternative of OpenStack had two choices: build it yourself (DIY), or sign up with Rackspace. Polar opposites in just about every regard. Then, a wave of startups pledged to offer a middle ground, populated with software distributions and appliances to simplify the path from zero to OpenStack.

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