Microsoft News Tracker

For some arcane reason it didn’t merit a press release, but yesterday Microsoft released System Center Virtual Machine Manager to manufacturing. Microsoft’s Chris Stirrat has full details on the Windows Virtualization Team Blog, but the elevator pitch is that SCVMM (or VMM) is a tool for large enterprises to manage their virtual machines with the same ease as today’s management tools allow them to manage physical server machines.

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Today after a bit of a delay earlier in the year, Microsoft today released Service Pack 1 for Virtual Server R2 for download. Patrick at the Windows Server Division Weblog tells us what’s new in SP1:

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Mike Neil, Microsoft’s GM of Virtualization Strategy, today revealed that the schedules for the public beta of the Viridian feature of Windows Server Longhorn and the release of Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 are slipping:

The public beta of Windows Server virtualization will ship in the second half of 2007, not in the first half as previously disclosed.

The final version of Virtual Server 2005 R2 service pack 1 now will be available in Q2, not Q1 as previously stated. In the interim, customers and partners can download a Release Candidate (RC) version later this month - this is code complete and an update to the current beta 2.

The cause for the Virdian beta delay was that more performance and scalability work was needed, but Neil is emphatic that Windows Server Longhorn is still on schedule as is Viridian, although as currently planned Viridian will lag the 2H07 Longhorn release by up to 180 days. As for Virtual Server 2005 R2, integration of support for three additional operating systems (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, Solaris 10, and the latest CTP of Longhorn) gets the blame

Over the weekend, I mentioned a NY Times profile of Microsoft virtualization software competitor, VMware, that seemed laden with “Microsoft is an unfair competitor” rhetoric. Today comes word that VMware has published a whitepaper on their website that could well be titled “J’accuse” which details Microsoft’s anti-competitive licensing and distribution practices related to virtualization. Most of what is mentioned is familiar to those who follow the industry, but having them lay out the 7 accusations so concisely makes one wonder when the next shoe will drop. As Mary Jo Foley remarks:

My biggest question, after reading The Times story and the VMware white paper is when will VMware file a lawsuit? It sounds like VMWare — in spite of its 80 percent virtualization market share — is gearing up to lodge one heck of an antitrust complaint against Microsoft. (I wonder if VMWare parent EMC Corp. is really up for that kind of move. Maybe.)

Presumably VMware isn’t marshalling their arguments for the exercise, so what will it be - lawsuits or complaints to the various antitrust watchdogs or both?

Credit where credit is due. Microsoft announced an interesting twist in marketing enterprise software today - ship the tirekickers a preconfigured virtual machine using Microsoft’s virtual hard disk image format:

At VMworld 2006, Microsoft is making available their new virtual hard disk (VHD) Test Drive Program, which allows customers to confidently evaluate enterprise software from Microsoft and its software partners in a fraction of the time.

Mike Neil, senior director of virtualization strategy in Microsoft’s Windows Server Division:

This program enables Microsoft and its partners to distribute their enterprise software and applications within a virtual machine so that IT professionals can confidently and quickly evaluate Windows Server-based software. A similar program for Windows Vista will be available in the first quarter of 2007.

These virtual machines, which are provided in Microsoft’s virtual hard disk image format, are pre-built and pre-configured so that they can be downloaded or distributed for easy setup and evaluation. This allows customers to evaluate software in a fraction of the time it usually takes, such as setting up SQL Server 2005 in minutes instead of hours.

The VHD Test Drive Program is a first for Microsoft software and the more than 7,000 software vendors who can now deliver pre-configured applications within Windows Server-based virtual machines to their customers. Today the program launches with the latest versions of Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition, SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition SP1, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 (32-bit beta) with Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005, and Internet Security & Acceleration (ISA) 2006 Standard Edition. Partners and customers can expect to see additional Microsoft software added to this program.

We expect more than 20 partners to begin distributing their software via the VHD Test Drive Program later this quarter, including Altiris, BEA Systems, Check Point, Citrix, CommVault, Dell, FullArmor, HP, Network Appliance, Platespin, Portlock, Quest Software, SourceCode Technology Holdings, Symantec and UGS. Over the coming year, we anticipate our partners will use this program to get more than $10 billion in software into the hands of IT professionals to evaluate.

Virtual machines are incredibly convenient for testing server software unless you really like wiping and re-building test machines, and VHD is a perfect fit for shipping a pre-built system image. Also don’t forget that Microsoft’s Virtual Server is free. VMs would also be good for demoing client software too, but I suspect that they are beyond the average user.

Update: Patrick at Microsoft’s Windows Server Division WebLog says the VHD Test Drive Program is now live and remarks the similarity to VMware’s Virtual Appliances.