Going to VMware today

Later today I’m going to VMware to hear the latest about virtualization technology. What would you like to ask them?

Me? I’m going to ask how they compare to Parallels, the virtualization technology that I’m running on my MacBookPro (it lets me use Windows Vista). A new version of Parallels was released today. Web Worker Daily reports on that.

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67 thoughts on “Going to VMware today

  1. I am not familiar with Parallels, but I watched the VMware fusion for Mac OS X video on YouTube, and it seemed pretty compelling. I thought having individual Window applications open on your Mac desktop was pretty slick.

    I think this technology for the Mac is very appealing and gives you the best of both worlds. I would like to know what type of compelling / wow-factor technology do they have released for the PC that is as compelling?

    It states on their website, that VMWare will run virtual images created using Microsoft Virtual PC, and Symantec Backup Exec – how well will these really run?

    I look forward to seeing information on this interview.

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  2. I am not familiar with Parallels, but I watched the VMware fusion for Mac OS X video on YouTube, and it seemed pretty compelling. I thought having individual Window applications open on your Mac desktop was pretty slick.

    I think this technology for the Mac is very appealing and gives you the best of both worlds. I would like to know what type of compelling / wow-factor technology do they have released for the PC that is as compelling?

    It states on their website, that VMWare will run virtual images created using Microsoft Virtual PC, and Symantec Backup Exec – how well will these really run?

    I look forward to seeing information on this interview.

    Like

  3. I’d like to know what they think about VirtualBox, which is free and open-source (no ‘reduced’ versions) and especially now that it can use VMware disk files.

    And also whether Unity will make it to the Windows version, because that would be an excellent (probably even killer) feature.

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  4. I’d like to know what they think about VirtualBox, which is free and open-source (no ‘reduced’ versions) and especially now that it can use VMware disk files.

    And also whether Unity will make it to the Windows version, because that would be an excellent (probably even killer) feature.

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  5. Apparently next week they’re announcing the new VMware at WWDC. Cool.

    What I really really want to know is what they’re doing about 3D. Specifically, can I run Vista with all the bells and whistles at or near native speed? Do all Direct3D and OpenGL games (and other 3D apps) play at or near native speed, including DirectX 10?

    The main reason is because this is really the last bastion where the Mac falls down. The economics of making games are already terrible, so producing and advertising them for the Mac is a rough sell unless you’re Blizzard or id. And Apple doesn’t seem to care (it is a solveable problem, imho).

    I’m convinced that solving this problem is the last barrier for Apple to really gain a lot more market share. Why? Because almost every time I ask someone why they don’t use a Mac, the answer is “It doesn’t play games. Why else do you think I spent so much money on my PC?”. (Sometimes I have to dig to get to that answer, because they’re embarassed to admit that Half-Life is their real reason for owning a high-speed PC :). They have a pointm though – Word and IE certainly don’t need the latest-and-greatest GPUs.

    Parallels 3 apparently does both of these, but I haven’t installed my upgrade yet to thoroughly test it out.

    It’s strange that Apple has such a great approach to most multi-media (photos, videos, music) but has a terrible approach to games.

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  6. Apparently next week they’re announcing the new VMware at WWDC. Cool.

    What I really really want to know is what they’re doing about 3D. Specifically, can I run Vista with all the bells and whistles at or near native speed? Do all Direct3D and OpenGL games (and other 3D apps) play at or near native speed, including DirectX 10?

    The main reason is because this is really the last bastion where the Mac falls down. The economics of making games are already terrible, so producing and advertising them for the Mac is a rough sell unless you’re Blizzard or id. And Apple doesn’t seem to care (it is a solveable problem, imho).

    I’m convinced that solving this problem is the last barrier for Apple to really gain a lot more market share. Why? Because almost every time I ask someone why they don’t use a Mac, the answer is “It doesn’t play games. Why else do you think I spent so much money on my PC?”. (Sometimes I have to dig to get to that answer, because they’re embarassed to admit that Half-Life is their real reason for owning a high-speed PC :). They have a pointm though – Word and IE certainly don’t need the latest-and-greatest GPUs.

    Parallels 3 apparently does both of these, but I haven’t installed my upgrade yet to thoroughly test it out.

    It’s strange that Apple has such a great approach to most multi-media (photos, videos, music) but has a terrible approach to games.

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  7. How soon do they see virtualization being truly mainstream?
    Will there be a time when all hardware simply acts as hosting for your ‘computer’ that you carry round on a memory device like a pen-drive?

    Should be a good visit, they create some awesome technology.

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  8. How soon do they see virtualization being truly mainstream?
    Will there be a time when all hardware simply acts as hosting for your ‘computer’ that you carry round on a memory device like a pen-drive?

    Should be a good visit, they create some awesome technology.

    Like

  9. Gosh what a compelling line of questioning, “How do you guys compare to Parallels?”

    Not “How do you see virtualization changing the way data centers are designed and operated in the future?”

    Or “Why do you think Microsoft is scaling back their virtualization plans for Windows Server 2008? Are they ceding the enterprise market to you for now, or is it possible that they’ve changed their minds and think that virtualization isn’t going to be as big a deal?”

    Or how about asking questions about workstation desktop virtualization, and why they think they offer a better solution then Citrix. Or using VMware for business continuity? Can they really distribute virtual hosts among geographically diverse data centers and keep a company up and running through a catastrophic disaster like 9/11 or Katrina?

    But no, those things are unimportant and uninteresting; we want to know how your product that runs on a miniscule percentage of machines in the market compares to another program that runs on those same machines.

    I must be missing something; I must just not “get it.” Obviously the VMware Mac product is hugely important to VMware, I need to go to their website and find out more information on this software. Humm.. Nothing on the front page about Macs. There’s a big banner about VMware Workstation 6, but that doesn’t run on the Macintosh. Let’s click on the “Solutions” tab. Nope, nothing there. Back to the main page. Oh, a “Products” tab, it must be there. Nope, not there either. Humm, let’s click the “FREE Virtualization Products” link, it MUST be there. Drat, not there either. Well, let’s type “Macintosh” into their search box. Bingo, hits. Let’s look at the first link “’Day Zero’ Fear Could Boost Windows Rivals” and it was written on September 18 2003. Oh, and the next link is about x86 Virtualization Technology winning an award. The reality is that Fusion is so unimportant to VMware that you have to dig deep to find it even mentioned.

    Please Scoble, step out of the echo chamber once in awhile and dig into information that 99.9% of us in the real world would find useful.

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  10. Gosh what a compelling line of questioning, “How do you guys compare to Parallels?”

    Not “How do you see virtualization changing the way data centers are designed and operated in the future?”

    Or “Why do you think Microsoft is scaling back their virtualization plans for Windows Server 2008? Are they ceding the enterprise market to you for now, or is it possible that they’ve changed their minds and think that virtualization isn’t going to be as big a deal?”

    Or how about asking questions about workstation desktop virtualization, and why they think they offer a better solution then Citrix. Or using VMware for business continuity? Can they really distribute virtual hosts among geographically diverse data centers and keep a company up and running through a catastrophic disaster like 9/11 or Katrina?

    But no, those things are unimportant and uninteresting; we want to know how your product that runs on a miniscule percentage of machines in the market compares to another program that runs on those same machines.

    I must be missing something; I must just not “get it.” Obviously the VMware Mac product is hugely important to VMware, I need to go to their website and find out more information on this software. Humm.. Nothing on the front page about Macs. There’s a big banner about VMware Workstation 6, but that doesn’t run on the Macintosh. Let’s click on the “Solutions” tab. Nope, nothing there. Back to the main page. Oh, a “Products” tab, it must be there. Nope, not there either. Humm, let’s click the “FREE Virtualization Products” link, it MUST be there. Drat, not there either. Well, let’s type “Macintosh” into their search box. Bingo, hits. Let’s look at the first link “’Day Zero’ Fear Could Boost Windows Rivals” and it was written on September 18 2003. Oh, and the next link is about x86 Virtualization Technology winning an award. The reality is that Fusion is so unimportant to VMware that you have to dig deep to find it even mentioned.

    Please Scoble, step out of the echo chamber once in awhile and dig into information that 99.9% of us in the real world would find useful.

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  11. Ask them about this post:

    and how they can say they’ve “leapfrogged” Parallels when Parallels 3 is a real product, Fusion is in beta, and they look to have almost feature parity. Ask them how they leapfrogged Parallels, when Parallels is talking up Direct X 9 support, and according to the release notes on Fusion, it’s only supporting Direct X 8.1.

    As Hoberion said, ask them why, if they’re all OMGWEELURVEMACS, why I have to use RDC or parallels to run the VMWare enterprise console. Ask them why their web interface for VMWare enterprise only works correctly in IE on Windows. Can’t even use Firefox on Windows right, much less FF on a Mac.

    Finally, ask them why Ol’ Regis Duschene felt the need to bring up a lawsuit Parallels is dealing with? What, they’re afraid that Fusion might be a viable competitor, so they feel the need to FUD them?

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  12. Ask them about this post:

    and how they can say they’ve “leapfrogged” Parallels when Parallels 3 is a real product, Fusion is in beta, and they look to have almost feature parity. Ask them how they leapfrogged Parallels, when Parallels is talking up Direct X 9 support, and according to the release notes on Fusion, it’s only supporting Direct X 8.1.

    As Hoberion said, ask them why, if they’re all OMGWEELURVEMACS, why I have to use RDC or parallels to run the VMWare enterprise console. Ask them why their web interface for VMWare enterprise only works correctly in IE on Windows. Can’t even use Firefox on Windows right, much less FF on a Mac.

    Finally, ask them why Ol’ Regis Duschene felt the need to bring up a lawsuit Parallels is dealing with? What, they’re afraid that Fusion might be a viable competitor, so they feel the need to FUD them?

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  13. I’m with Brad – ask some questions that most of us will find compelling. (I liked his.)

    I say that even though I am using a Mac Pro as my regular desktop computer. While I have some interests in Parallels and Fusion, they probably ultimately won’t matter to me. Since my Mac Pro arrived, I’ve been running Vista on it. My husband laughs at me – I never boot into OS X.

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  14. I’m with Brad – ask some questions that most of us will find compelling. (I liked his.)

    I say that even though I am using a Mac Pro as my regular desktop computer. While I have some interests in Parallels and Fusion, they probably ultimately won’t matter to me. Since my Mac Pro arrived, I’ve been running Vista on it. My husband laughs at me – I never boot into OS X.

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  15. No questions, just KUDOS! Tell them that I really love their products. they have made my life in IT very exciting, and much easier. My company was going full force on the ESX platform, but due to some new management they are scaling back (going back to hardware). Virtualization is the future, those who ignore it hoping it will all go away are misguided. I am running SQL 2005 and reporting services, websites etc. I absolutley think they have phenomenal products! Keep up the great work!

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  16. No questions, just KUDOS! Tell them that I really love their products. they have made my life in IT very exciting, and much easier. My company was going full force on the ESX platform, but due to some new management they are scaling back (going back to hardware). Virtualization is the future, those who ignore it hoping it will all go away are misguided. I am running SQL 2005 and reporting services, websites etc. I absolutley think they have phenomenal products! Keep up the great work!

    Like

  17. Parallels just demoed 3D capability. A mac running Windows in a virtual machine running a very hardware intensive game (Doom 4 or Quake 4, dont remember which). When can we see the same from Vmware?

    (So I can run vmware on Linux and play games in a vm)

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  18. Parallels just demoed 3D capability. A mac running Windows in a virtual machine running a very hardware intensive game (Doom 4 or Quake 4, dont remember which). When can we see the same from Vmware?

    (So I can run vmware on Linux and play games in a vm)

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  19. How does it compare to Parallels? Most enterprises don’t give a crap about a Parallels vs VMWare conversation. Brad is right…ask some questions that a least show you’ve done a modicum of research on the virtualization space.

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  20. How does it compare to Parallels? Most enterprises don’t give a crap about a Parallels vs VMWare conversation. Brad is right…ask some questions that a least show you’ve done a modicum of research on the virtualization space.

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  21. VMWare ESX is a brilliant product.

    Microsoft are about to release “Viridian” – a free add on to the Longhorn server that is reputed to compete with ESX head to head.

    How does ESX compare to Viridian? Will Viridian overpower the ESX product line because it is free? How can VMWare ESX compete with ‘Free’?

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  22. VMWare ESX is a brilliant product.

    Microsoft are about to release “Viridian” – a free add on to the Longhorn server that is reputed to compete with ESX head to head.

    How does ESX compare to Viridian? Will Viridian overpower the ESX product line because it is free? How can VMWare ESX compete with ‘Free’?

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  23. Yeah, I agree with Brad too. Parallels?!?! Please. If you want to run Windows just buy a Windows PC. This ‘best of both worlds’ business is boring, it’s just not a great long term solution to anything. This too shall pass. Running virtual OS within OSes on a personal computer is still cumbersome, I don’t care how you make it look. Show me a technology that allows you to run Windows apps natively within OS X and you’ve got my attention. Leave VMs in the data center and for dev, test and Q&A.

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  24. Yeah, I agree with Brad too. Parallels?!?! Please. If you want to run Windows just buy a Windows PC. This ‘best of both worlds’ business is boring, it’s just not a great long term solution to anything. This too shall pass. Running virtual OS within OSes on a personal computer is still cumbersome, I don’t care how you make it look. Show me a technology that allows you to run Windows apps natively within OS X and you’ve got my attention. Leave VMs in the data center and for dev, test and Q&A.

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  25. I’m familiar with some of the vmware enterprise tools, and this is where I think VMWare excels over Parallels and MIcrosoft Virtual PC. Going to end user level of virtual machine use, I would ask VMWare whether they will open up the free workstation to let me do all the things I can with Microsoft Virtual PC.

    I used VMWare for development on a server VM on my workstation using VMWare and switched when MS virtual PC came out. You can’t build machines without restriction using VMWare player, like you can with MS. Also, you can drag folder into *and* out of MS Virtual PC–that’s really a nice feature. Part of why I use VM is also just for the ability to have an IE6 browser and other non vista compliant apps (which there are a lot of, particularly at enterprise company) on my vista workstation.

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  26. I’m familiar with some of the vmware enterprise tools, and this is where I think VMWare excels over Parallels and MIcrosoft Virtual PC. Going to end user level of virtual machine use, I would ask VMWare whether they will open up the free workstation to let me do all the things I can with Microsoft Virtual PC.

    I used VMWare for development on a server VM on my workstation using VMWare and switched when MS virtual PC came out. You can’t build machines without restriction using VMWare player, like you can with MS. Also, you can drag folder into *and* out of MS Virtual PC–that’s really a nice feature. Part of why I use VM is also just for the ability to have an IE6 browser and other non vista compliant apps (which there are a lot of, particularly at enterprise company) on my vista workstation.

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  27. How about if they have any plans to do a desktop version of ESX?

    My wish for the consumer side of virtualization in the future, is an ESX type of product with broad hardware support that can be the hub for my desktop machine. I want to be able to launch Windows, Linux or even OS X and have the ability to store snapshots for recovery purposes and have it virtualize my network adapters to provide a firewall to my guest OS’s.

    Yes, you can run all of those in a VM now, but you have the overhead of the host OS to deal with. If you primarily use Windows, as I do, you are dependent on it running in top form for those VM’s to function properly. What I want is something with low overhead and high stability to take that host OS out of the equation.

    I guess this was more of a demand than a question, but I would like to know if they are thinking of anything in that direction.

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  28. How about if they have any plans to do a desktop version of ESX?

    My wish for the consumer side of virtualization in the future, is an ESX type of product with broad hardware support that can be the hub for my desktop machine. I want to be able to launch Windows, Linux or even OS X and have the ability to store snapshots for recovery purposes and have it virtualize my network adapters to provide a firewall to my guest OS’s.

    Yes, you can run all of those in a VM now, but you have the overhead of the host OS to deal with. If you primarily use Windows, as I do, you are dependent on it running in top form for those VM’s to function properly. What I want is something with low overhead and high stability to take that host OS out of the equation.

    I guess this was more of a demand than a question, but I would like to know if they are thinking of anything in that direction.

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  29. Commenters #4 & #10 hit the key things Enterprise managers are grappling with today. Interested in what you post back on this.

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  30. Commenters #4 & #10 hit the key things Enterprise managers are grappling with today. Interested in what you post back on this.

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  31. Gary, I just did finished doing a test on my desktop at work, I need both Windows and Linux for development. Initially the computer came with a WinXP image so I put workstation 6 on it and ran FC6 as a VM. This solution was painful to deal with. Things just got slower over time and became generally unusable.

    I then reversed the experiment, put FC6 as the host and installed both WinXP and Win2k VMs for various testing duties. The machine is an absolute rocket now. Windows seems to boot up faster as a VM than it did as a native host. If you’re going to use workstation I cant recommend strongly enough to use Linux as the host.

    I’ve been using different versions of workstation for years and I’m pretty impressed with the new version 6. Things just seem to work better, config was smoother, found everything it needed by default.

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  32. Gary, I just did finished doing a test on my desktop at work, I need both Windows and Linux for development. Initially the computer came with a WinXP image so I put workstation 6 on it and ran FC6 as a VM. This solution was painful to deal with. Things just got slower over time and became generally unusable.

    I then reversed the experiment, put FC6 as the host and installed both WinXP and Win2k VMs for various testing duties. The machine is an absolute rocket now. Windows seems to boot up faster as a VM than it did as a native host. If you’re going to use workstation I cant recommend strongly enough to use Linux as the host.

    I’ve been using different versions of workstation for years and I’m pretty impressed with the new version 6. Things just seem to work better, config was smoother, found everything it needed by default.

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  33. I would ask how Microsoft’s EULA for certain Vista products banning it’s use within a virtual machine affects their business plans…

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  34. I would ask how Microsoft’s EULA for certain Vista products banning it’s use within a virtual machine affects their business plans…

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  35. I am glad that Robert opened this up, as there are obviously good questions that pertain to the enterprise that I did not immediately come to mind.

    #4 – I like the questions you have raised.

    It has been a while since I have worked in a data center, and there are a lot of people in tech who don’t. While I think your data center questions and the future of virtualization are excellent, I think there is a large percentage of tech people who’s questions are more focused on the desktop and interoperability. After seeing your questions I agree with #14 that I am interested in hearing these answers.

    #12 – The comment about leaving VMs in the data center and for dev, test and Q&A seems elitist to me. Why shouldn’t anyone who wants to use them use be able to use them?

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  36. I am glad that Robert opened this up, as there are obviously good questions that pertain to the enterprise that I did not immediately come to mind.

    #4 – I like the questions you have raised.

    It has been a while since I have worked in a data center, and there are a lot of people in tech who don’t. While I think your data center questions and the future of virtualization are excellent, I think there is a large percentage of tech people who’s questions are more focused on the desktop and interoperability. After seeing your questions I agree with #14 that I am interested in hearing these answers.

    #12 – The comment about leaving VMs in the data center and for dev, test and Q&A seems elitist to me. Why shouldn’t anyone who wants to use them use be able to use them?

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  37. #6, Brad, where were you two days ago when everyone was saying the Sun Microsystems’ announcement was “boring?”

    You can’t have it both ways. You gotta stick up for me when I do datacenter news if you want something other than Apple this and Apple that news.

    Translation: I’d rather cover the datacenter news too, cause it’s just as important to Silicon Valley’s economy than whether we sell another Macintosh or iPhone.

    See comments on Valleywag or on this post if you aren’t sure what I’m talking about: http://scobleizer.com/2007/06/06/techmeme-not-quite-google-news/

    (The developer behind TechMeme said that he only wants to read “exciting” news, and datacenter stuff bores him).

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  38. #6, Brad, where were you two days ago when everyone was saying the Sun Microsystems’ announcement was “boring?”

    You can’t have it both ways. You gotta stick up for me when I do datacenter news if you want something other than Apple this and Apple that news.

    Translation: I’d rather cover the datacenter news too, cause it’s just as important to Silicon Valley’s economy than whether we sell another Macintosh or iPhone.

    See comments on Valleywag or on this post if you aren’t sure what I’m talking about: http://scobleizer.com/2007/06/06/techmeme-not-quite-google-news/

    (The developer behind TechMeme said that he only wants to read “exciting” news, and datacenter stuff bores him).

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  39. @24 “I’d rather cover the datacenter news too, cause it’s just as important to Silicon Valley’s….”

    But wouldn’t you covering datacenter news have about as much credibility as Perez Hilton trying to cover a White House press conference?

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  40. @24 “I’d rather cover the datacenter news too, cause it’s just as important to Silicon Valley’s….”

    But wouldn’t you covering datacenter news have about as much credibility as Perez Hilton trying to cover a White House press conference?

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  41. Robert,

    For your typical audience (desktop/laptop users) it is a good line of questioning to ask VMware about their strategies for fighting off Open Source and low cost competitors.

    Currently, I think they give away free versions to encourage IT people to test the software and get excited about buying the larger versions (ESX Server for DataCenter uses).

    On the Enterprise level VMware (for me) boils down to 3 C’s: Containers, Concurrency and Cloning.

    Container:
    Any x86 system (MS, Linux, Solaris) can be treated as a container with VMware. The container can be as simple as two files on a storage device (metadata and a file that emulates C: for example).

    Concurrency:
    An ESX server (using a custom Linux host OS) can run many containers on one large server. If you manage 400 PC servers you’d like to consider buying 100 large servers to run 400 container iamges and be able to add containers where there is excess hardware capacity and save money and support headaches.

    If hardware fails VMware can re-start containers on another ESX server.

    Cloning:
    Copy the container files across the WAN and you get Disaster Recovery without a lot of details headaches.

    VMware is pushing all three of these concepts to DataCenter Enterprise requirements and increasing availability, DR and reducing “Total Cost of Ownership”.

    So, questions the VMware might be worried about:
    1) Will MS show up with patent demands around the Linux that makes ESX so profitable? It would be very easy to get them in court and work out a license agreement. VMware might like to stop the Open Source VM’s from getting Enterprise uptake.

    2. Does large vendor virtualization concern them (IBM, HP, Sun)? I’d guess not because like EMC they speak well with all those vendors equipment if x86 is the standard for the datacenter. But, they will drive price pressure.

    3. Are they working independently from their owners EMC? I think they are otherwise it would tip the Enterprise to another storage neutral solution. If the Open Source VM’s get robust fast the competition will be like MS facing down Linux. A long slow erosion that limits “wall street” expectations for growth. They start to stall.

    I hope I’m not too late to influence the conversation but I did want to document my take on VMware and others may comment based upon real experience with the products.

    Like

  42. Robert,

    For your typical audience (desktop/laptop users) it is a good line of questioning to ask VMware about their strategies for fighting off Open Source and low cost competitors.

    Currently, I think they give away free versions to encourage IT people to test the software and get excited about buying the larger versions (ESX Server for DataCenter uses).

    On the Enterprise level VMware (for me) boils down to 3 C’s: Containers, Concurrency and Cloning.

    Container:
    Any x86 system (MS, Linux, Solaris) can be treated as a container with VMware. The container can be as simple as two files on a storage device (metadata and a file that emulates C: for example).

    Concurrency:
    An ESX server (using a custom Linux host OS) can run many containers on one large server. If you manage 400 PC servers you’d like to consider buying 100 large servers to run 400 container iamges and be able to add containers where there is excess hardware capacity and save money and support headaches.

    If hardware fails VMware can re-start containers on another ESX server.

    Cloning:
    Copy the container files across the WAN and you get Disaster Recovery without a lot of details headaches.

    VMware is pushing all three of these concepts to DataCenter Enterprise requirements and increasing availability, DR and reducing “Total Cost of Ownership”.

    So, questions the VMware might be worried about:
    1) Will MS show up with patent demands around the Linux that makes ESX so profitable? It would be very easy to get them in court and work out a license agreement. VMware might like to stop the Open Source VM’s from getting Enterprise uptake.

    2. Does large vendor virtualization concern them (IBM, HP, Sun)? I’d guess not because like EMC they speak well with all those vendors equipment if x86 is the standard for the datacenter. But, they will drive price pressure.

    3. Are they working independently from their owners EMC? I think they are otherwise it would tip the Enterprise to another storage neutral solution. If the Open Source VM’s get robust fast the competition will be like MS facing down Linux. A long slow erosion that limits “wall street” expectations for growth. They start to stall.

    I hope I’m not too late to influence the conversation but I did want to document my take on VMware and others may comment based upon real experience with the products.

    Like

  43. #23 – elitist ?!?! Far from it. I’m not advocating preventing anyone from running VMs on their laptop, I’m just commenting on it’s practicallity. Outside of our “echo chamber” running multiple OS concurrently within one host while that host runs another OS is an incredilby esoteric and expensive exercise that only appeals to small market. Mass deployments are impractical because IT shops have to worry about not only manitining a host OS but also a guest OS. It’s a niche market and once you are talking about Mac hosts the market becomes even smaller, it’s not meant as a dig it’s just reality. A more interesing question would be when is Apple going to let us VM OS X instances.
    Like I said, show me something like WINE running Windows apps without virtulization or hardware emulation and you got me, until then it’s just not practical to me.

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  44. #23 – elitist ?!?! Far from it. I’m not advocating preventing anyone from running VMs on their laptop, I’m just commenting on it’s practicallity. Outside of our “echo chamber” running multiple OS concurrently within one host while that host runs another OS is an incredilby esoteric and expensive exercise that only appeals to small market. Mass deployments are impractical because IT shops have to worry about not only manitining a host OS but also a guest OS. It’s a niche market and once you are talking about Mac hosts the market becomes even smaller, it’s not meant as a dig it’s just reality. A more interesing question would be when is Apple going to let us VM OS X instances.
    Like I said, show me something like WINE running Windows apps without virtulization or hardware emulation and you got me, until then it’s just not practical to me.

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  45. I would ask them if they are making improvements to VMware-player so that it’s performance will be more competitive with VirtualBox and Qemu. I would show them the following benchmarks from this testing (scroll down for “Benchmark” and “Conclusions”…

    http://www.linux-gamers.net/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=56

    “Conclusions:

    VMware-Player does not seem to be that good and no real competitor to Virtualbox or Qemu after this benchmark and the Windows system running in the VMware-player didn’t feel very smooth at all. That might be different, when the guest drivers are installed, but seems like they are only available with the commercial product.”

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  46. I would ask them if they are making improvements to VMware-player so that it’s performance will be more competitive with VirtualBox and Qemu. I would show them the following benchmarks from this testing (scroll down for “Benchmark” and “Conclusions”…

    http://www.linux-gamers.net/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=56

    “Conclusions:

    VMware-Player does not seem to be that good and no real competitor to Virtualbox or Qemu after this benchmark and the Windows system running in the VMware-player didn’t feel very smooth at all. That might be different, when the guest drivers are installed, but seems like they are only available with the commercial product.”

    Like

  47. step out of the echo chamber once in awhile

    Great post. But a lost cause…the echo chamber is where all the excitement, parties, conferences, jet-setting and shaky-boring cam interviews with start-up CEOs (that hate Dreamhost) happen. The fun buzz before reality…

    Soooo watcha think of Power 5 and Power 6? (Nice opening…). Heh.

    I’d ask about the Virtual Iron catfights…oh fun fun. 🙂 VI going HP ProLiant Partner Program, hah, hah. What does VMWare think of Mike Grandinetti’s smack downs? And what of Diane Greene’s pushback per integrating virtualization into the OS. I can spec geek out too, but hey, catfight drama is NEWS. Boxing match material there, as VMWare prices are a BIG issue.

    Also amazing that Microsoft went SoftGrid only as function of MDOP per SA maintenance contracts. And where be Viridian? Another Microsoft forever forthcoming staller, that will be half of what promised. Hit on that. Dig up some Microsoft slams if you can.

    And you can talk about the new ACE 2 Enterprise, and Pocket ACE. And about strategic overall approaches over just servers, per software, storage and networking.

    Microsoft, XenSource, Virtual Iron, SWsoft (and umm ok, maybe Parallels) are but trailing VMWare, that may change, but the economic pie will only grow, so it may not be at the expense of VMWare. But rubber meets road time…Xen won’t meet VMWare for awhile, but pricing factors in it’s favor and given time, might catch up.

    (Oh wait you already went, well right next door…)

    Like

  48. step out of the echo chamber once in awhile

    Great post. But a lost cause…the echo chamber is where all the excitement, parties, conferences, jet-setting and shaky-boring cam interviews with start-up CEOs (that hate Dreamhost) happen. The fun buzz before reality…

    Soooo watcha think of Power 5 and Power 6? (Nice opening…). Heh.

    I’d ask about the Virtual Iron catfights…oh fun fun. 🙂 VI going HP ProLiant Partner Program, hah, hah. What does VMWare think of Mike Grandinetti’s smack downs? And what of Diane Greene’s pushback per integrating virtualization into the OS. I can spec geek out too, but hey, catfight drama is NEWS. Boxing match material there, as VMWare prices are a BIG issue.

    Also amazing that Microsoft went SoftGrid only as function of MDOP per SA maintenance contracts. And where be Viridian? Another Microsoft forever forthcoming staller, that will be half of what promised. Hit on that. Dig up some Microsoft slams if you can.

    And you can talk about the new ACE 2 Enterprise, and Pocket ACE. And about strategic overall approaches over just servers, per software, storage and networking.

    Microsoft, XenSource, Virtual Iron, SWsoft (and umm ok, maybe Parallels) are but trailing VMWare, that may change, but the economic pie will only grow, so it may not be at the expense of VMWare. But rubber meets road time…Xen won’t meet VMWare for awhile, but pricing factors in it’s favor and given time, might catch up.

    (Oh wait you already went, well right next door…)

    Like

  49. PS – Trying to cover the Enterprise space, from a Valley start-up kick ain’t gonna work. Journalistically bone up. Asking the Parallels question will forever mark you as an “everyman Walt Mossbergish drama-queen” lightweight. Give unto consumers, the things that are consumerish, and unto the Enterprise things that are Enterpriseish.

    Like

  50. PS – Trying to cover the Enterprise space, from a Valley start-up kick ain’t gonna work. Journalistically bone up. Asking the Parallels question will forever mark you as an “everyman Walt Mossbergish drama-queen” lightweight. Give unto consumers, the things that are consumerish, and unto the Enterprise things that are Enterpriseish.

    Like

  51. What interests me is the ability to deploy virtual machines to a portable device that can be booted anywhere and will create a secure tunnel back to base.

    Just imagine being able to take your desktop wherever you go, in your pocket. Just run it from whatever hardware is around, and it connects back to the office. Administrative control over the access to the rest of the desktop to control what can be done with it.

    I’d also love to talk about a Hypervisor that can support HIDS or or HIPS. Move the security added value into the hypervisor to prevent malware running in the VMs.

    Andy

    Like

  52. What interests me is the ability to deploy virtual machines to a portable device that can be booted anywhere and will create a secure tunnel back to base.

    Just imagine being able to take your desktop wherever you go, in your pocket. Just run it from whatever hardware is around, and it connects back to the office. Administrative control over the access to the rest of the desktop to control what can be done with it.

    I’d also love to talk about a Hypervisor that can support HIDS or or HIPS. Move the security added value into the hypervisor to prevent malware running in the VMs.

    Andy

    Like

  53. “how they compare to Parallels”

    Like Wordpad to Word. Parallels doesn’t compare at all.

    Like

  54. “how they compare to Parallels”

    Like Wordpad to Word. Parallels doesn’t compare at all.

    Like

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