Microsoft has used the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo
to announce new developments based on virtualisation.
One of the most talked about techniques in the computer
industry, virtualisation is attributed with helping IT centres
reduce IT infrastructure costs through server consolidation,
disaster recovery, re-hosting of legacy applications, and software
test and development.
At the Linux show Microsoft announced a three-point plan to
drive its goal of making virtualisation a more mainstream
technology. It announced that its Virtual Server 2005 R2 product
was available as a no-charge download; it made available no-charge
virtual machine add-ins to run select Linux distributions, along
with a technical support model to assist users as they consolidate
their Linux-based applications on Virtual Server 2005 R2; and
Microsoft announced that it now has 45 vendors signed up in its
Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format licensing program, which says the
company is intended to drive industry development of solutions to
help users better manage virtual machines.
In terms of Microsoft’s support for open source in Virtual
Server, the company announced that it will support Linux running as
a guest in Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 from both a technology
perspective and a 24-hour technical support perspective. It says
that this will help customers safely consolidate their Linux-based
applications on Virtual Server and will provide software that users
can install in the Linux guest operating systems. Initially,
Microsoft will support multiple Linux distributions from Red Hat
and Novell.