With a nod to the increasing popularity of Linux, Microsoft announced
expanded support for the Linux OS at the LinuxWorld trade show in Boston
today.
Microsoft said it now offers virtual machine (VM) add-ins for Linux
and 24 x 7 technical support. Also, Microsoft announced its Virtual Server
2005 R2 as a free download. The software used to cost $99 for up to four
instances or $199 for an unlimited number of processors.
These latest moves beg the question, Is virtualization leader VMware in
danger of being “Netscaped” by the software giant?
Netscape saw its dominant market share virtually disappear as Microsoft
brought a free Internet Explorer and then made it part of Windows. But
VMware points to its growing customer list and developer support and doesn’t
see itself in the Netscape role.
Microsoft has been offering Virtual Server
for free to its Microsoft Development Network and volume buyers, according
to Raghu Raghuram, vice president of platform products for VMware.
“They’ve
been offering that over the last two years, and we haven’t seen any distinct
traction,” Raghuram told internetnews.com.
Microsoft also plans to integrate virtual server its hypervisor
software as part of its Longhorn Server OS due out the end of this year.
Specifically, Microsoft said the Windows hypervisor would be delivered in the
“Windows Server Longhorn wave” or sometime after Longhorn’s release.
Raghuram said that means at least 2007 and possibly as late as 2008.
“Our customers can take advantage of these technologies today,” said
Raghuram. “We’ve had a quarter million users download our free VMware
Virtual Server since February, and it’s state-of-the-art with support for
the latest virtualization from AMD and Intel. When hypervisor comes out,
that’s new technology; we had our first version in 2002.”
Jim Ni, group product manager in Microsoft’s Virtual Server group, said
making its Virtual Server free “makes it easier for customers to access and
experience the benefits of virtualization now. From a platform perspective,
resource management has always been part of the operating system so
customers are asking, ‘Why am I paying for virtualization in the platform?'”
He confirmed Microsoft also plans to continue its support of both AMD and
Intel, which are building more virtualization features into their processors.
As for Microsoft’s expanded support for Linux, Raghuram thinks VMware’s
position as an independent supporter of multiple operating systems has greater appeal.
“Do you really think if you’re a serious Linux customer you will use
Microsoft to host Linux?”
Both companies also announced they were opening up the specifications
related to VMware.
Ni said he thought the main opportunity for other virtualization
developers was in the area of management and testing.
Microsoft announced
today that 45 vendors now support its royalty-free Virtual Hard Disk (VHD)
format, up from 14 in October. Among VHD supporters are Akimbi Brocade,
Diskeeper, Fujitsu-Siemens, Network Appliance, Platespin, Softricity,
Virtual Iron, and XenSource.
The VHD format is designed to let Microsoft
partners develop virtual machine solutions such as the management and
testing solutions Ni mentioned.
VMware had a related announcement today, making the specifications of its
virtual machine disk format open and available as a free download for the
first time. A number of developers are supporting both Microsoft’s
VDM and VMware’s format.
Commenting on VMware’s announcement, Stephen Pollack, CEO of PlateSpin
said: “We will be able to enhance our product’s ability to stream servers
bi-directionally between physical servers and offline virtual machines,
which users can deploy as part of their VMware virtual infrastructure-based
disaster recovery strategy.”
Raghuram claimed VMware has opened up more than Microsoft in making its
VMDF format freely available where Microsoft requires everyone from users to
developers to agree to a Microsoft license agreement.
