November 17, 2003 (Computerworld) --
In the world of system virtualization, an intense battle over pricing and support is brewing between Microsoft Corp. and market leader VMware Inc. Last week, Microsoft announced that it will release its Virtual PC product next month at a cost of $129, slashing the price from the $229 that Connectix Corp. charged for the product before Microsoft acquired the technology earlier this year (see story). The comparable VMware product, VMware Workstation, costs $299. But although Microsoft has delayed release of Virtual Server until sometime in the first half of next year, the support policies the company sets for Windows products already affect VMware users. VMware users say those policies cost them time and convenience. The server virtualization technology enables users to run multiple instances of x86 operating systems on a single server to increase server utilization. Microsoft won't support its applications or Windows operating systems that are running in the VMware environment. It requires that any problem that arises be replicated on a physical server before it will offer support. "Microsoft's current stance [on support] is a problem," said Eric Kuzmack, an IT architect at Gannett Co. in Silver Spring, Md. Kuzmack said he doesn't know whether the support policy will influence his future rollouts of VMware, but he noted that it makes Linux a more attractive option from a support perspective. Virtual machine technology "is important enough that the fact that there is not a support issue running Linux [in a virtual environment] weighs on our decision as to what we deploy," Kuzmack said. Bob Armstrong, director of Internet and information systems at Delaware North Cos., a hospitality services provider in Buffalo, N.Y., said moving a Microsoft product from a VMware environment to a physical environment takes about six hours. But he noted that despite Microsoft's stated policy, the company's technical support personnel tend to be flexible in offering some support in a VMware environment. "Six months ago, it was end of story," said Armstrong, adding that now his company is getting less resistance for help.
Michael Mullany, vice president of product marketing at VMware in Palo Alto, Calif., claimed that Microsoft's support policy exists for "competitive reasons." He said support of Windows isn't an issue for Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM, both of which offer Windows support for products running in the VMware environment. Eric Berg, a Microsoft group product manager, defended the policy. "If you look at the virtual machine, in many ways it's like another operating system running on top of an operating system," he said. "We don't have visibility into how that software operates, and to us it looks like a black box." Asked whether the
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