Enter a New Player in Virtualization
Many think that Windows virtualization is a two-horse market: EMC’s
VMware versus Microsoft. SWsoft, a player in the hosted/telco/ISP market, joined
the fray in June and has a
new
version of its Windows tool, Virtuozzo 3.5. Having earned its stripes in
demanding hosted environments, the company is not afraid of competing on high-end
features. It points to low overhead, fast performance and the total isolation
of one virtual server from another as key selling points.
Virtual Hardware, Too!
Intel is pushing virtualization down to the processor level and its OEMs are
now shipping
desktops that can run more than one OS at a time. Beyond the pure “buzz”
factor, this is tres important. Look at it this way: As an IT pro, you could
set up different partitions for different functions. One partition could be
for browsing, another for e-mail, isolating spyware and viruses. While this
runs counter to Microsoft’s integrate-everything master plan, it does
help keep our systems actually running.
Windows More Reliable
This one gets a skeptical “hmmm.” Microsoft has just released results
of an exclusive study, and who would have guessed -- Windows servers are
more reliable than their Linux counterparts. The skeptic in me laughs derisively
(stole that phrase from a bad novel), but my experience tells me different.
As much as XP has as many crashes as a stock car track during amateur hour,
Microsoft server products -- at least now -- hold the road pretty well.
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Ozzie Blog Mania
Faithful readers of this newsletter have perhaps noticed two minor obsessions
of mine: Google, and to a lesser degree, Ray Ozzie. Ozzie, creator of Notes
and now with Microsoft, is driving much of Microsoft’s direction. And
in a change of pace at Microsoft, he is being awfully open about issues, challenges
and directions. Plus, he seems genuinely interested in what YOU have to say.
In fact, I forwarded an interesting message from a Redmond Report reader
that was rather quickly absorbed. So yes, you can make a difference.
One way for Ozzie to talk to customers is through a new
blog (he had one in the old days back at Groove). The guy is smart, a great
writer (he could take over this job in a heartbeat) and happens to report to
Bill. Worth a read? Definitely!
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.