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The Next Round in the Virtualization Wars

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the in-this-corner dept.

GvG writes "After making Virtual Server available for free some time ago, Microsoft announced today it is offering Virtual PC as a free (as in beer) download. They also announced a change to the Vista license related to virtualization: Customers who deploy Windows Vista Enterprise have the ability to install up to four (4) copies of the operating system in a virtual machine for a single user on a single device. Even better, nothing in the license requires that Microsoft Virtualization technologies be used - if you want to use a competing product as your Virtualization solution, you still get the four extra licenses for use with VMs."

7 of 355 comments (clear)

  1. What is supported by Nemith · · Score: 5, Informative

    Check out this link as to what will work on VPC and what won't. http://vpc.visualwin.com/

  2. Re:I don't get why this is so special? by thedbp · · Score: 5, Informative

    Um, NO.

    WINE uses reverse engineered Windows APIs to run Windows apps w/out running a copy of Windows and isn't compatible with a metric shit-ton of software.

    Virtual PC runs a full copy of Windows in a sandboxed environment, great for servers to compartmentalize their various services or for Mac users to run a Windows-only app and is exactly like running Windows on an actual PC.

    Don't you people know how to use Google?

  3. OSS is working by Dryanta · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Microsoft is scared, this is the first time I can ever recall them becoming MORE lax on licensing schemes for a new OS. They're not just scared, they're terrified! This huge industry push to OSS and virtualization could be the end of Microsoft and the tech economy as we know it. Or, they could pull another halfway-decent suite out of their backsides and surprise us. Even if this is the climax of the market share crescendo... at least at the end of the day the poor IT guys stuck in Microsoft solutions will thank us all for it.

    1. Re:OSS is working by 0racle · · Score: 5, Insightful
      All that just to compete with Xen.
      No one cares about Xen. Microsoft made a copy of VPC free to drum up business for a product they just bought. VMWare made one of their products free to expand their market, they can even still make money with VMWare server by selling support for it, or when its users realize they need more and upgrade to ESX. Xen exists for some hobbyists.

      What does MS have to worry about with Xen or VMWare for that matter if they give VPC away? You still need to have a valid licence to run Windows on it or VMWare. VMWare has little to worry about too. Where are you going to get support for Xen from? Does Xen even come close to providing what VMWare workstation or ESX can do?

      People are only running scared from OSS in the minds of many Slashdot users and bloggers no one cares about.
      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
  4. Up to four? by truedfx · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Customers who deploy Windows Vista Enterprise have the ability to install up to four (4) copies of the operating system in a virtual machine for a single user on a single device.
    Am I the only one who finds it completely ridiculous that using the software by a single user on a single machine could ever require multiple licenses?
  5. Re:VMware Workstation v5.5.1 vs. Virtual PC 2004? by Bishop · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The snapshot and clone features in VMware v5 beat VPC 2004. VMware v5 is a recent product VPC 2004 is not. In general VPC 2004 ran windows guests faster then VMware v4 (four). The difference was marginal. I have not tested the speed of VPC 2004 against VMware v5. VMware runs all non-windows guests faster then VPC v4. (In some cases infinitely faster as VPC had trouble with certain versions of Linux and FreeBSD.) You can run a kernel level debugger such as SoftICE under VPC. SoftICE and Vmware have/had issues. IIRC VPC has no opengl/directx guest support. I doubt that you will ever see that feature in either product. The new virtualization instructions in Intel and AMD processors may change that, but I would not count on it.

    I use VMware daily. VMware support other guest operating systems better then VPC. But the big winner is VMware's management features. The snapshot managment, cloneing and templating are wonderfull.

  6. Nope by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The problem is VMWare opened the door. They released free products (player and server). It's actually their move to try and drive MS out. MS doesn't have a product that competes with their high end server products. So they are hoping they can become ubiquitous as the VM technology in the low end market, so whenever anyone thinks VM, they think VMWare and buy the high end stuff (MS will have a high end virtualization solution at some point). MS now can claim, with 100% justification, that they are eimply pricing competitive with the market. A monopoly can't use preditory practises but they aren't reuired to screw you. There's no "If you are a monopoly you have to charge more than your compeition."

    In any competition, you have to be careful what you do because it could invite reprisals. The same si true when it's a bigger player. If you decide something should be free, they have every right, regardless of position, to answer that with a similar free product.

    Now they could get in trouble if they leveraged Windows to try and force their product. IF the virtual license applied to VPC only, that could get them in trouble as they are using their OS monopoly (which I find a funny term, given the Apple and Linux competition) to help their VM division. However since the license applies to their competitiors equally, it's not anti-competitive in the slightest.