Microsoft Making Progress in Virtualization
So, this week, Microsoft held one of those non-event events in which it gathers
reporters together to release a few details about upcoming products, and reporters
go because, well, it's Microsoft.
OK, so it wasn't
a total non-event, but we do kind of wonder sometimes why Microsoft bothers
with a whole big press event when a press release and a couple of spokespeople
available to take calls would
suffice.
But that's all press stuff, and you don't care about press stuff. You care
about what Microsoft had to say earlier this week. Basically, with regard to
its virtualization plans, Redmond says that things are coming along. The Hyper-V
hypervisor is free now, as opposed to costing $28, and Redmond's working on
what it calls Live Migration -- "the ability to move a virtual machine
(VM) from one physical machine to another, with no downtime," as Virtualization
Review Editor Keith Ward so
eloquently writes.
There's a whole lineup of products either coming or on the way, and the attention
Microsoft is paying to virtualization signals that the technology will be a
cornerstone of its strategic plans going forward. And that has to be good news
given that the company won't be able to rely on the earning power of Windows
and Office forever. Besides, we could use a good rivalry in the industry these
days, and Microsoft-VMware could be a healthy battle -- an event not to be
missed.
What's your take on Microsoft's virtualization strategy? Send it to lpender@rcpmag.com.
Posted by Lee Pender on September 09, 2008