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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 [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on September 09, 2008


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