Microsoft News Tracker

Microsoft seems to be on an acquisition binge. The latest rumor according to Paula Rooney at CRN:

Microsoft is in talks to buy application virtualization software vendor Softricity of Boston, CRN has learned.

“It’s coming down to the final stretches,” said one source close to Microsoft who is familiar with the discussions. “It’s not a done deal yet but it’s just last minute haggling kind of stuff.”

That’s not all. At its hardware conference for OEMs next week, Microsoft is expected to announce plans to accelerate the delivery of its homegrown virtualization hypervisor code-named “Viridian” and will formally debut plans for a virtualization management platform code-named Carmine.

The deal with Softricity — which hit the rumor mill earlier this week — is expected to be finished before the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in Seattle next week. Sources say Microsoft at WinHEC also will unveil Virtual DLL, a feature for Windows Vista developed in conjunction with Softricity.

The feature will not enable full application virtualization offered by Softricity’s SoftGid platform but it will allow users to virtualize application registries and “end DLL hell once and for all,” one source said.

More details by following the link, but the parties are all saying “no comment.” The Softricity web site is here. The impetus for all of this?

Sources said Microsoft is speeding up its Viridian plans and pushing forward on its virtualization management plans and application virtualization efforts to appease corporate customers that want a VMware-like platform but don’t want to wait much longer.