Comment Re:This Move doesn't make any sense to me. (Score 1) 401
Well, are they really giving it away for free? The way I see it this is really good for Microsoft, with server sales predicted to slow down over the next few years due to the rise of increasing more powerful machines with multiple cores and cheaper memory, people are less likely to buy a new server because there will be so much more spare resources and capacity on an existing one, so if you could keep on virtualizing a multi-cpu/core system then you could keep on charging for extra vm's using your using your vm pricing model.
So bang you've now decoupled your license sales from dwindling hardware sales and there will typically always be a need to separate your servers either physically or virtually due to application or security needs so you lower the bar by reducing the cost, with the promise of lower power and cooling costs.
If I was Microsoft I'd bundled the VM functionality into the OS as quick as I could and make it exceptionally good so I could provide it as a value add to Enterprise, why deal with VMWare when I could do it all in house and control the quality of the product as well, more license sales for me and increased likelihood that the host os is Microsoft.
So bang you've now decoupled your license sales from dwindling hardware sales and there will typically always be a need to separate your servers either physically or virtually due to application or security needs so you lower the bar by reducing the cost, with the promise of lower power and cooling costs.
If I was Microsoft I'd bundled the VM functionality into the OS as quick as I could and make it exceptionally good so I could provide it as a value add to Enterprise, why deal with VMWare when I could do it all in house and control the quality of the product as well, more license sales for me and increased likelihood that the host os is Microsoft.
