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With the release of the full version of Microsoft’s “bare metal hypervisor”, Hyper V, the first shots have been fired in what I wll coin “The Virtualisation Wars”.

A long time ago in a server room far, far away …

“Vmware I am your major share holder.”

And so on.

However, it appears that Vmware is already getting nervous about Microsoft. Despite their superior product, they are resorting to petty antics that are reminiscent of the school yard.

“Our initial finding is that Hyper-V Server is not “thin”; Hyper-V Server is still ultimately Windows.  Hyper-V Server appears for the most part to be just Windows Server Hyper-V with Server Core where all other Server Core roles (except Hyper-V) have been disabled. Hyper-V Server has practically the same footprint as Windows Server Hyper-V with Server Core and is subject to the same patches, updates, attacks. It also appears to have the same restricting, indirect Windows-based driver model. In fact, it seems that the only advantage of Hyper-V Server is that one doesn’t have to buy a Windows Server license in order to deploy it – that’s it.   Hyper-V Server is not “Windows-less”, but just “Windows License-less.”

Hyper-V Server also has some significant limitations that it seems to have inherited from the Standard Edition of Windows Server 2008. It can only support a maximum of 4 sockets per host, 32GB of physical memory per host, 31GB of virtual memory per VM, and requires a rip and replace upgrade to support features like Microsoft Clustering and Quick Migration. So it seems that Hyper-V Server is more of a starter kit, meant only for very basic use cases. In comparison, ESXi is a fully functional, production ready, enterprise offering. Actually, as 1) Both ESXi and Hyper-V Server are free and 2)Only free ESXi can easily be upgraded via license key to a production solution, why would anyone ever use Hyper-V Server? What’s the advantage?”

SOURCE: http://blogs.vmware.com/vmtn/2008/10/four-smart-new.html

Also: http://www.builderau.com.au/news/soa/VMware-Microsoft-has-no-car-/0,339028227,339292628,00.htm?feed=rss

Now, this isn’t a random posting on some wanker’s website (like your’s truly), instead this is on the VMTN blog. It seems to me that Vmware should be embracing this competition to prove the superiority of their products rather than resorting to (the equivalent of) petty name calling.

Hey, Vmware, do you remember Update 2?

“Just set your clocks back to before August 15th.” Great solution, guys …

Just focus on the business at hand and make a more productive use of the competition. Given the recent (dramatic) downturn in Vmware’s stock price (which I am convinced is just a natural adjustment given the emeregence of new competition), maybe they should be taking more of a look at themselves rather than focusing outwards.

Here endeth the sermon.

As an addendum, have a look at Vmware vs. the IDC! http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10075385-92.html?part=rss&subj=news