That Microsoft has its sights set on the virtualization market dominated today by VMware is nothing new. However, the announcements Microsoft made on Monday show that the company is putting a tremendous amount of resources toward moving from vision to reality, analyst say.
Virtualization is a key component that can take the Dynamic Systems Initiative of a few years ago and make it approach reality.
Now, Microsoft is far from alone in this vision. I've heard similar talk over the years from Hewlett-Packard, Veritas (now Symantec), IBM and others. But clearly a fire has been lit under Microsoft, which was comparatively late to the virtualization game, despite its 2003 purchase of Connectix.
It should be an interesting battle between Microsoft and VMware ;) Aw Yeah!
"VMware has a first mover advantage and a head start," Gillett said. "But Microsoft's model-based approach to it is a more appealing ideal." [hmmm....TODO: Gotta read more about that!]
The moves come as virtualization is entering the mainstream on the server side and a looming presence on the desktop. Forrester said a recent survey showed half of businesses using server virtualization currently, with two-thirds planning to by next year. On the desktop, things are more nascent, with just over a quarter of businesses saying they either are using PC virtualization or will do so in the next 12 months.
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