From the ‘is anyone closed source anymore‘ files:
VMware is no stranger to the open source ecosystem having made numerous pieces of software available under open source licenses over the years. Today, VMware is adding another one to the mix with the VMware View Open Client which will be available under the LGPL.
The way I see it, View is essentially a remote desktop virtualization technology and with the open client any OS user can take the code to create, modify and/or customize the end desktop experience.
“Now we are sharing our source code in VMware View Open Client so vendors can easily optimize devices to create the best virtual desktop solutions,”Jocelyn Goldfein, vice president and general manager of VMware’s Desktop Business Unit said in a statement.
This is a big deal in my opinion and one that will further heighten the competition (and potential challenge) to both Citrix’s XenServer as well as Red Hat’s Qumranet offerings.
As opposed to just saying the project is open source, VMware is also going a step further and hosting the project over at Google Code , which shows a high degree of transparency. VMware isn’t hiding much with this release. It build on the fact that the VMware View Manager itself is available under an open source license as well.
There was a time when I personally thought of VMware as a proprietary vendor and XenSource (now Citrix) as the open source one. That’s no longer entirely accurate though is it? Both VMware and Citrix have open and closed source efforts and both in some way leverage open source development practices to their own respective benefits.
