It's a VMworld, and the Rest of Us Just Live in It
Just as the weather is cooling down (at least where we are),
VMware
is heating up. We've heard the figure 10,000 bandied about in reference
to the number of attendees at this week's VMworld in San Francisco. We haven't
confirmed that number ourselves, but if it's accurate, it roams in the same
ballpark as Microsoft TechEd and Worldwide Partner Conference numbers. Maybe
even a bigger ballpark. VMworld is big. Let's just say that.
Following on yesterday's raft
of product announcements, VMware soldiered on today, revealing the acquisition
of a Swiss virtual machine management vendor called Dunes -- so named, no
doubt, because Switzerland is known for its...dunes?
Anyway, never to be outdone even at somebody else's show, Microsoft staged
an announcement with Citrix to say...well, not much, as friend of RCP
Mary Jo Foley
notes (the companies will be standardizing on Microsoft's VHD format). But
Microsoft is saying something (more
than one thing, actually), we suppose, and that's what seems to matter most
in Redmond. Nobody at Microsoft wants us to forget that the mothership is very
tuned into virtualization -- despite the fact that it's still way behind VMware
in almost every way possible and doesn't seem to have all
that much of a coherent strategy for how to really break into the market.
For now, virtualization is VMware's world, and Microsoft is just trying to
live in it. And with VMware being part of (don't forget) mega-monster EMC, it's
unlikely that Redmond will be able to bully its way to the front of the market
share line any time soon. But we know that won't stop Microsoft from trying
-- or at least talking about trying.
What's your take on Microsoft's virtualization strategy? Or VMware's, for that
matter? Let me know at lpender@rcpmag.com.
Posted by Lee Pender on September 12, 2007 at 11:54 AM