
VMware May Be Microsoft’s Top Rival After Google - nice1
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/technology/business-computing/31virtual.html?pagewanted=1&hpw
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tptacek
My experience is that enterprise VMWare shops buy more server OS licenses, not
less.

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prodigal_erik
Someday they're going to realize VMware is arbitrating access to their
hardware and is therefore an operating system, Windows (or Linux) on top of it
is just a ridiculously large API compatibility layer, and they only need that
until they buy or build native VMware apps to do the same work (I think the
marketers call them "appliances").

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gaius
People _are_ realizing that. Why do you need a Windows file server when a
NetApp speaks CIFS? You would need some sort of storage array anyway!

Even these days, an awful lot of Windows servers are doing exactly what
Netware was doing before them, file and print serving. MS obviously recognize
this with the new Server Core Edition. But printers are first-class citizens
too now, many of them don't need a server, they just plug directly into the
network, run their own admin app over HTTP...

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tptacek
Because the NetApp costs a whole hell of a lot more than a Windows server?

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gaius
You would have to buy the disks anyway.

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tzury
Here is one simple threat, happened to me using VirtualBox but same applies on
VMWare.

Say you got 10 Linux Machines on your startup. Your developers are all doing
their development on the linux but have to test the product on windows as
well. Moreover, you need to author/edit/view some files on windows/ms office.

Since you are running your windows/ms office instance on a virtual machine,
you will need to buy a single license for the product and then once you had it
activated, you can simply clone the machines across the network having each
one of your developer his/her own copy of this windows instance.

In this case it might or might not be legally permitted but there can be a
virtual product which breaks the licensing model without breaking the law.

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michael_dorfman
I think the whole premise of the article has to be re-examined. Microsoft
doesn't have "a rival", per se-- it is competing in too many different arenas,
and may or may not have significant rivals in each of them.

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nebula
_it(MSFT) is competing in too many different arenas_

That is one of the reasons I don't like them. Whenever someone comes up with
something innovative, MSFT jumps into that area, copies the concepts; uses the
financial muscle and its huge presence the existing markets to kill the
competition. Netscape is only an example of that strategy. It's a bad thing
for a lot of potential startups.

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bradgessler
Google Link (no login) [http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-
us&...](http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-
us&q=Challenging+Microsoft+With+a+New+Technology&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8)

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brg
Doesn't Apple play a role at the top there?

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nailer
Depends whether there means 'in virtualization' (no) or 'as a Microsoft
competitor' (yes).

Judging from the moderation I think people have taken it both ways.

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brg
I definitely meant as a Microsoft competitor. I read the article's emphasis on
virtualization as an explanation of VMWare's product, not as the emphasis of
the article.

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rocketman
Microsoft is a little slow on the defense as well. Apparently Windows Ultimate
comes with a virtual XP mode that pales in comparison to even VMware's free
product, Player. Keep it up VMware :)

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tptacek
Almost all of VMWare's products are free, including a version of ESX. Nobody
is using Win7 XPM as a VMWare replacement.

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xtho
The products that are actually useful (eg workstation) are not free. Even
those products you mentioned are free only in the sense of free beer -- with
obligatory registration.

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jdbeast00
concur. I stated off on workstation and when i tried to revert to VMPlayer i
was dismayed. its barely usable for even running VM's.

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brisance
Microsoft's top rival is itself. Why buy Windows 7 when you can continue to
run XP and have Windows 7 in a virtualized environment?

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xtho
Erm, how do you get win7 to run in a virtualized environment without "buying
it"?

I think the "more natural" course of things would be to run the existing win
xp installation in a virtualized environment on a non-ms os.

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akamaka
Adobe anyone?

MS has a massive effort underway to compete with the Flash platform and
associated tools for designers.

