Here are CAOS Theory’s top 20 posts of 2009, in terms of page views:

• The Open Source Initiative’s corporate status is suspended: a CAOS Theory Q&A

October – Our take on the potential ramifications of the suspension of OSI’s corporate status.

• Commercial open source business strategies in 2009 and beyond

January – An overview of the open core and embedded open source strategies that we expected to dominate in 2009.

• Looking for Linux, but sold out

January – Jay’s search for a Linux netbook – but was it a sign of their popularity or the lack of support from hardware vendors?

• Microsoft blinks first on interoperability with Red Hat

February – Red Hat gets an interoperability agreement with Microsoft without the need for an intellectual property agreement.

• Marten Mickos is leaving Sun amid reorg

February – Breaking news on CAOS Theory, thanks to the fact that the news hit email boxes while those of us in the UK were awake. The beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning?

• From support services to application services: the evolution of open source business strategies

May – My presentation from the sparsely-attended Cloud Expo Europe, updating our research on open source business models.

• None leading Linux kernel development

September – The latest Linux kernel development statistics indicate that there is still is a significant role for individual developers working outside their corporate affiliations.

• On open source business strategies (again)

February – The debate about how best to make money from open source software continued.

• 451 Group survey highlights user concerns over Oracle’s proposed ownership of MySQL

December – The most popular of our numerous looks at the implications of Oracle acquiring MySQL via Sun, introducing our survey of open source users.

• Microsoft creates CodePlex Foundation to facilitate open source contributions

September – More popular than the news that Microsoft was contributing to Linux – our introduction to the CodePlex Foundation.

• TomTom Linux impact light hit so far

March – Jay assesses the impact on device manufacturers and the Linux-centered software providers of Microsoft’s patent infringement suit against TomTom.

• Open game on the virtual desktop

February – VMware announced a new open source version of its virtual desktop software, dubbed VMware View Open Client.

• The potential impact of Sun-Oracle on MySQL, and its partners

April – Our first response to Oracle’s potential ownership of MySQL via Sun, highlighting that the biggest competitive impact would potentially be on MySQL storage engine partners.

• How Day Software stumbled upon an open source business strategy

November – We suspected that many would be interested in the story of how Day Software engages with open source. We were right.

• A classification of open source business strategies

March – Details of how we classified the business strategies of the various vendors we covered in our 2008 Open Source is Not a Business Model report.

• Define “open source vendor”

February – This one would run and run. Tarus Balog opened the floodgates by question our use of the term “open source vendor”.

• The case against the case against Oracle-MySQL

December – Our assessment of the arguments in favour of blocking Oracle’s acquisition of MySQL.

• Everything you always wanted to know about MySQL but were afraid to ask – part two

November – The second of our round-ups of the latest coming and goings in the EC’s investigation of Oracle-Sun.

• What about Woman’s Hour? Free speech, free markets and the future of MySQL

October – Oracle/Sun/MySQL again. This time the view that Oracle is not open source-friendly enough to be considered a welcome acquirer of MySQL.

• Biting into the Linux Sandwich of 2009

January – Jay describes Linux adoption at the low end, high end and middle of the IT stack.