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XenSource: Is That Microsoft's Music?

It has, we'll freely admit, been a long, long, long time since we've watched what's known as "professional wrestling." And by long time, we mean at least a couple of decades, probably longer, reaching back to our much younger days. (Seriously, we're talking King Kong Bundy, Gentleman Chris Adams, Iceman King Parsons here -- the old Dallas Sportatorium crowd.)

And even in those days, we didn't watch much wrestling. But we do remember some of the theatrical tricks the wrestlers used to (and presumably still do) use. One of our favorites was when one guy was getting roughed up pretty good, and it looked as though his fate was sealed...when suddenly, out of nowhere, his buddy would arrive accompanied by a signature tune blasted over the loudspeakers, and the announcer, with an impassioned sense of faux-bewilderedness, would shout (for example), "Is that Kerry Von Erich's music?" Of course, a total melee would ensue, much to the delight of a crowd thirsty for scripted violence.

And so we have XenSource, of budding virtualization fame, which was gobbled up just last week by Citrix. Presumably, then, the two companies will want to get on with the task of corporate and technological integration, wrapping up all the regulatory paperwork and meshing executive teams, hashing out corporate branding and...wait! Hang on! Is that Microsoft's music?

Citrix might not have XenSource pinned to the mat just yet. (And, yes, we're aware that Citrix is a longtime Microsoft partner and not a rival, meaning that our little metaphor kind of falls apart right here -- but hey, it was fun, wasn't it?) Some analysts are starting to make noise about Microsoft slipping in to double Citrix's already extremely generous offer and throw a billion dollars at XenSource...which could, they say, bring IBM into the mix in turn. We can see the chairs flying now!

Or not. Back in the real world, a Microsoft acquisition of old buddy Citrix still seems like a more likely scenario than Microsoft snatching XenSource from Citrix's hands -- although a Citrix purchase would require a much bigger financial outlay from Redmond and very well might end up being the company's biggest single buyout of all time if it were to happen. Still, a cool billion for XenSource seems like a very high price for anybody to pay. It's worth keeping an ear out for Microsoft's music, though. It wouldn't surprise us to hear it somewhere in the virtualization market soon.

If Microsoft were a wrestler, what would its name and music be? Oh, and what's your take on Citrix, XenSource and Microsoft's virtualization efforts? Let me know at [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on August 22, 2007


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