[subtextminer]

Enterprise Linux was getting going for real in the late 1990s but in my view it was more 2005-ish that it became "mainstream" in these sphere. Sun Computer for example started to support Linux in 2006 and was a Hail Mary to try to save itself as SunOS was being eaten away by Linux.

Redhat Inc became part of the Nasdaq-100 in 2005.

I make this comparison as the question is whether OpenStack still has the potential to become a full go-to alternative in the way that clients consider closed cloud systems from AWS/GCP/Azure as substantial equivalents.

[lasereyes136]

I see your point but disagree. Sun was the last holdout of the propriety Unix vendors to support Linux because they had underpriced the other Unix vendors like Linux was underpricing them. Sun's whole idea was to create cheap Unix workstations by using commodity parts and having a low-cost Operating System in SunOS and then Solaris.

Becoming a Nasdaq-100 company is a trailing indicator of going mainstream. By 2005 RedHat and Enterprise Linux had won, and Sun had about 5 years before Oracle purchased them.

OpenStack is great if you want to manage your own data center and some companies should do that. It is a cost/benefit analysis that some will make on the side of doing their own thing.