Microsoft is Virtually on Linux

The upcoming release of Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1 will have support for heterogenous networks, including Linux-based computers. The Beta is already available for download. Virtualization provides key benefits to IT administrators, enabling them to

• Flexibly deploy applications on hardware best suited for the job


• Physical server consolidation - a hot-button issue, costs-wise


• Legacy application re-hosting on modern server machines

The new Service Pack also provides 64-bit Windows Server 2003 compatibility, as well as royalty-free licensing of the Virtual Hard Disk

This is a significant step in the maturity of Linux, although it will have no impact on end-users' adoption of Linux. It also marks a departure from Microsoft's usual characterizations of Linux as 'a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches'. Microsoft has focused on interoperability in the past, and recognized the competitive threat of Linux, with Steve Ballmer, wanting "to emphasise the competitive threat, and in some senses the competitive opportunity, that Linux represents. Linux is a tough competitor. There's no company called Linux, there's barely a Linux road map. Yet Linux sort of springs organically from the earth"

Steve Ballmer is under pressure to demonstrate that Microsoft has not lost its' direction, given that their stock has effectively treaded water for the last three years. The company itself is doing very well, and significant initatives over the next couple of years will redefine the computing platform that we have gotten used to for a decade.

These initiatives range from the releases of the Team System, SQL Server 2005, and the much-heralded 'Longhorn'. Longhorn features seem to get better by the day, despite early reports that some killer features were pulled into current Windows versions. Longhorn will feature 'hypervisor' technology, enabling hardware virtualization right at the desktop OS level. The XBox 360 will debut later this year, and the folks at Microsoft Labs have sunk much money into a few Google-killers, while watching the company that 'does no evil' seize as much of the market mindshare and customer attention as Microsoft did in the past.

Article Author: Aaman Lamba

Aaman Lamba is a Blogcritics editor, as well as the Publisher of Desicritics.org, a Blogcritics network site covering media, politics, culture, sports and more with a global South Asian focus

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