If VMware’s(s vmw) application to join the OpenStack Foundation is approved, it could mean several things for the server virtualization kingpin.

First, it adds more weight to the argument that VMware “gets” open source. Last month, news of its acquisition of Nicira, an OpenStack contributor, showed that VMware might be more receptive to joining forces with — or at least giving lip service to  — the OpenStack open-source cloud initiative. That would be a notable change since OpenStack has been seen as a counterweight to VMware in the cloud. VMware had already entered the open source fold with its Cloud Foundry PaaS but the company’s core vSphere franchise was seen as anything but open.

Reality bites VMware

To some, this move just shows that VMware — which had hoped to make vSphere the OS of the cloud — now grasps the reality that cloud data centers are not vSphere-only shops.