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Canonical exec: We're not worried about VMware joining OpenStack

While the recent addition of VMware to the OpenStack Foundation as a gold member troubled some in the community - including a new member of the board of directors - Canonical cloud vice president Kyle MacDonald says that his company was an enthusiastic backer of the move.

EARLIER: Oops. OpenStack board member says letting VMware into project was a mistake

BEFORE THAT: VMware officially joins OpenStack

"I was supportive of the VMware acceptance into the foundation. We need to recognize ... that when we're talking about VMware, we are also talking about Nicira," he says. Nicira is a recent VMware acquisition, known for creating the Quantum OpenStack networking protocol.

By contrast, Mirantis CEO Boris Renski recently wrote that VMware is widely viewed as a competitor to OpenStack - pointing out that the company has publicly derided OpenStack in the past - and questioned the wisdom of giving VMware a seat at the table.

However, MacDonald seems perfectly at ease with the prospect of VMware coming to dinner.

"Many of the members of the OpenStack Foundation, many of the companies participating in OpenStack also have competing areas," MacDonald asserts, though he adds that Canonical is one of the few that does not.

"I don't feel the need to compete with VMware, because I don't have a virtualization product line, like another Linux vendor does," MacDonald says, alluding to Red Hat.

"I feel like the right position here is to expect everybody to do the right thing," he says. "VMware has assured us that they're going to do that, and I think we have to take them at their word."

When asked why Ubuntu is better positioned than rivals like Red Hat in the OpenStack space, MacDonald cites the company's experience.

"This isn't something new to us, this isn't something we don't understand, this isn't a community we're going to seek to control of - we've already been in the OpenStack world, we've already been developing a product," he says.

Email Jon Gold at jgold@nww.com and follow him on Twitter at @NWWJonGold.

Read more about software in Network World's Software section.

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