It seems that the opensource project OpenStack is taking off, slowly. Rackspace announced the release of their cloud computing platform for public use under an Apache 2.0 license. The obvious use of this software is commercial since you have to assume that this is what it was developed for. However, NASA is using and has developed some of the software which could inspire the government to try to get involved. The risky move is receiving a lot of exposure but also some underground push from people who love the idea. OpenStackHosts (http://www.openstackhosts.com) is an example of one…they are offering any hosting company that switches to OpenStack free advertising on their blog. Pretty good deal: free advertising for switching to a free platform. Maybe some things in life do come for free…