Microsoft Gets Virtual at Tech-Ed
These days, Microsoft's Tech-Ed conference is an obnoxious two-week binge,
with one week devoted to developers and the second to IT folks. With a minimum
of product announcements on the slate, the more interesting (or at least somewhat
less nerdy) second week is all about agenda-setting for Redmond rather than
about product pumping. (And, no, RCPU is not there, in case you were wondering.)
So, what's on Microsoft's agenda? This week, anyway, it's our
old friend virtualization. Microsoft is touting
its architecture and applications as excellent candidates for the virtualized
environment, pushing the forthcoming Hyper-V and noting that the Forefront security
suite, if anybody wants it, will run in a virtualized environment.
The other big item on the agenda is SQL Server, a release candidate of which
is now
available. Short-timer Bill Gates pitched
SQL Server at the other Tech-Ed conference last week as being extremely
critical to the Microsoft data platform.
So, that's where we are right now on the Tech-Ed front. Really, it seems appropriate
that Microsoft it talking more about technology agendas than about pure product
releases (although the SQL news really falls into the latter category). After
all, the days of product-driven IT are ending, what with SaaS, virtualization
and other less physical (for lack of a better word) technologies piercing the
enterprise. Why it takes Microsoft two weeks to talk about this stuff is beyond
us, but at least it's recognition that we're not just living in an old-fashioned
software-and-servers world anymore.
What would you like to hear Microsoft say about virtualization? About other
new technologies? Sound off at [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on June 11, 2008