Virtual Windows goes native

VM (virtual machine) technology may have a Linux-geek reputation, but Windows systems managers will be interested in Microsoft’s acquisition of Connectix and its VM technology last February. It can significantly affect their server configuration and purchasing strategies.

For most folks, implementing VM is an easy way to pirate a copy of Windows on top of another OS. What may surprise corporate systems managers, however, is that this won’t fly in corporate licensing schemes: Microsoft requires a full license key whether the OS is native or virtual.

But don’t let that daunt you from exploring VM solutions in a corporate setting. Using VM capabilities integrated within a Microsoft OS gives systems administrators a number of interesting options when designing special workstations or servers. Those folks administering a software development group, for example, can implement a number of different OSes accessible from a single, stable OS. This is handy for hardware emulators, beta-level operating platforms, and cross-platform use.

VM solutions also are ideal for providing continuing service to legacy applications. If your company is ready to move to a new OS but one or two key legacy apps are getting in the way, implementing VM on affected workstations offers a quick way to keep your OS migration rolling forward while leaving a legacy application upgrade for a future bottle of Advil.

Finally, there’s the datacenter. Blade servers or 1U servers can ease server consolidation when you’re employing one of the many Microsoft products that simply desires (as opposed to requires) its own box. But for those shops with budgets that won’t allow additional hardware, no matter how slim, VM technology will allow you to run one server on the host OS while keeping one or more servers running within VM instances on the same machine. You’ve got to be careful about system resource utilization, but for many small to midsize businesses, that really isn’t a problem. This is a great quick-fix solution until budgets and user loads allow for additional hardware.

Many will ask the simple question, “So what?” These folks probably have been using the commercial Connectix or VMware product to run Windows applications over Linux or the Mac. And for these folks, the Connectix acquisition really doesn’t mean much. But for Microsoft-oriented systems administrators, being able to access a VM toolkit as part of the native OS is a huge boon in flexibility. Provided Microsoft doesn’t decide to charge extra for it, of course.

If the company decides to go the additional-revenue route, it’ll be in for a tough fight. Redmond may have swallowed Connectix, but its ardent competitor, VMware, is still at large and carries with it an excellent reputation for reliability and flexibility. Further, while this company made its bones allowing Linux users to run Windows applications, its product stable includes a reverse of that strategy; namely a fully functioning Windows 2000 Server product enabling not only cross-platform applications but also multiple instances of Windows on the same machine. In other words, exactly the kind of flexibility Microsoft wants to provide via Connectix.

Regardless of which way Microsoft decides to go in providing the VM feature, it’s clear this technology will make a big impact in the datacenter. Let’s just hope the revenue maw doesn’t get in the way of a good thing.