07.16.09
Update on Novell and Microsoft’s Virtualisation Pact
Summary: Bits from the press about Novell and virtualisation for the most part
MANY people may not remember this, but Ron Hovsepian admitted giving power to Microsoft in the datacentres. It was part of the deal that Novell should permit Windows to run as a host and SUSE usually be a guest. Novell was the feeble party in this relationship and by signing that notorious patent deal, Novell sort of passed its inferiority onto other GNU/Linux distributors.
Moreover, it cannot be stressed strongly enough that Citrix bought XenSource only to advance Windows for the most part. Here is a new article from The Register:
Citrix Systems and Microsoft are co-mingling some of their virtual desktop technologies. But Redmond stopped short of endorsing the XenClient bare-metal PC hypervisor that chip maker Intel and Citrix are working on for delivery later this year.
Also new from The Register is an article about FastScales:
Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is not yet supported, and neither are other hypervisors, such as XenServer from Citrix Systems or Hyper-V from Microsoft, and this could be a problem. FastScale said back in April – when VMware launched its ESX Server 4.0 hypervisor and its related vSphere 4.0 tools – that it would support these by the end of the year.
Here is the Boston press about Novell:
Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Wash., firm that specializes in tracking Microsoft, said that by creating a rival operating system, Google is leading with its chin.
“I don’t see why Google has to get into this business,’’ Rosoff said. “It seems like they’re waving a red flag directly at Microsoft’s core business.’’
Microsoft has crushed a host of erstwhile technology titans that posed similar head-on threats – browser maker Netscape and networking software company Novell Inc., for example, he said.
Matt Rosoff would be biased because of his professional focus and location (Kirkland, just like Gates), so by “crushed” he probably means broke the law to put competitors out of business and thus obtain a monopoly, then pay fines for the crimes and benefit from the outcome of the crime (financially) over the years. The article above is noteworthy because of another new article (from Alibaba) about VMware and Microsoft. Microsoft executives are pretty much running VMware right now. The article states:
But Maritz knew how to play hardball: He made decisions that helped vanquish past Microsoft rivals, including Lotus, Novell and Netscape.
“Play hardball” or break the law? How the press attempts to soften the seriousness of crimes over time. We see it constantly, even days ago. As Comes vs Microsoft exhibits show, Paul Maritz participated even in vandalism. There are many more examples, some of which are yet to come. █
“We are going to cut off their air supply.”
–Paul Maritz, former Microsoft Vice President, referring to Netscape
