Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

VMware: Another Netscape?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the into-the-fold dept.

An anonymous reader writes " This CRN article states that Microsoft is about to buy Connectix and enter the server consolidation market. Connectix makes virtual machines products that compete with those of VMware. Quote: 'The technology will be integrated into the Windows code, sources said.' Will Microsoft be able to pull this one off? Will their virtual machines run operating systems other than Microsoft's?"

7 of 626 comments (clear)

  1. makes you wonder... by psyklopz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    if virtual pc will be suspended for the mac.

    are they more concerned about stopping adoption of os x, or more concerned about selling windows licenses to mac users?

    1. Re:makes you wonder... by JudgeFurious · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, we don't all really buy a copy of Windows. Some of us just buy the cheap ass version with PC-DOS and then install our borrowed copy of Windows. I know that's how I go about it.

      Will the cheap ass version vanish I wonder?

      --
      Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
  2. Solaris by sql*kitten · · Score: 5, Insightful

    'The technology will be integrated into the Windows code, sources said.' Will Microsoft be able to pull this one off? Will their virtual machines run operating systems other than Microsoft's?

    This is most likely Microsoft's response to Solaris Containers which are expected to be shipping in Solaris 10. Of course, both of these are simply implementations of ideas pioneered by IBM with VM/CMS.

    The VM approach makes a lot of sense even if you only plan to use it to run multiple copies of the native OS within them. The advantages are twofold. Firstly, it prevents one malfunctioning application from impacting other applications - even on Unix this is a serious problem, since one process can devour the CPU, memory, disk space, etc. Secondly, it allows resources to be redistributed or added on the fly, especially if your VM is seamless enough to span nodes.

  3. It could be bad, it could be worse than bad.. by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Or it could be bad. And I have no idea what to think. Microsoft still makes money off of the license that goes with the sale of VirtualPC.

    I saw the article already, but based upon M$ history and the announced integration of yet another application into already bloated and non-secure mess that Windows is, I foresee future news, with a familiar flavor. I.e. "this exploit allows anyone to take over any instance of blahblahblah".

    Yeah, they also said they would continue to support Mac computers, but is this something you really want? I couldn't help, but notice a comment that 'they don't intend to kill the software'. Really... It's just one more sword to dangle over Apple, when Steve gets too uppity.

    I don't see any long-term winners here, other than those selling Connectix's assets.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  4. Re:How will this be licensed? by lynx_user_abroad · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Sadly 50.

    Nothing sad about it. Now you know why IBM was so restrained during the Settlement phase.

    Q1. If you own a mongo-hardware server and you need 50 more virtual machines running Windows, how many copies of Windows do you have to push through Purchasing before they come on-line?

    A1. 50.

    Q2. If you own a mongo-hardware server and you need 50 more virtual machines running Linux, do you even have to let Purchasing know?

    A2. No.

    Extra Credit: According to the Settlement, how much of a discount can Microsoft offer you for the second, third, etc license for Windows?

    EC: zilcho.

    --

    The thing about things we don't know is we often don't know we don't know them.

  5. Remember Virtual GameStation by Ford+Fulkerson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do you remember the last time when Connectix sold it's Playstation emulator to Sony.

    There was lots of talk about how good this would be, since Sony could cerate an official platform for selling PSX games to mac and pc users, since Sony was supposed to lose money on consoles this would make perfect sense. Of course, this did not happen, Sony chose to kill it instead.

    Now, why do I get the feeling that the exact same thing will happen again?

    --

    Somewhere in the heavens... they are waiting.
  6. Missing the point... by LucidityZero · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Almost everyone here seems to be missing the point. This is not for home use. This is not intended for you, Joe Schmoe Windows at Home user to run other operating systems.

    This is for the server market. We have an IBM mainframe at work that is currently running approximately 6 virtual machines. Not so that you can play a Windows game in Linux, but so that the mainframe can offer more services. Although I do believe that one of the virtual machines is a fairly standard installation of Linux of some sort, every other OS on the system is a very specifically tailored OS for a specific job. I'm not the administrator for this box, so I can't say too much. But I know that there are specific Tivoli UNIX versions installed, as well as an TSM/ADSM (backup) specific OS.

    I think that THIS is what the article is getting at. This is not about you playing Tux Racer on your Windows box.

    --
    Sig.i>