More Virtualization

© April 2006 Anthony Lawrence

Microsoft just freed up Virtual Server 2005 R2. That download used to be a 180 day trial; apparently Microsoft feels the need to respond to VMware's free server with this.

The next release of Virtual Server has been pushed to 2007, but there are now plugins for better Linux support available for this version. If you are stuck on a Windows box, you can now run Linux easily with either this or the equally free VMware server.

To get Microsoft's download, you do have to register with their PassPort service, which is something I refuse to do simply because this helps bolster their claims that people WANT to join. Forcing registration to acquire "free" software is just another example of Microsoft's unprincipled actions trying to promote PassPort.

On the Mac front, Parallel's says it is planning a VM product. Meanwhile, VMware's president talks about open standards for virtualization and that (of course) was immediately followed up with VMware Open Virtual Machine Disk Format Specification.

Strangely (I think), Xensource licensed Microsoft's Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format (link dead, sorry) Don't these guys understand who their enemies are? Kind of makes me lose respect..

Drag Sidious posted an article that explores some of the things that have driven virtualization to where it is now. As usual, he's done a great job of digging beneath the surface.

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