You may have heard that Microsoft is teaming up with the open source vendor XenSource to enable virtualised linux versions to run on "hypervisor". It sounds like Microsoft is doing something positive, but lets take a deeper look and see if it really is positive or another move by the giant to lock down and own more technology.

VMware has responded to this latest news in the form of an article on the vmware site here.  Raghu Rahuram, VP of VMWare platforms also raises some interesting points. He released a public statement which says

It is an interesting comment, as it seems Microsoft is once again trying to monopolise on market. Considering they have been somewhat left behind to date, it actually comes as no suprise that they are forming alliances in an attempt to play catch up. While the hypervisor software is still under development other virtualisation vendors are making huge steps forward.  Raghu's statement also mentions the following.

"It is notable that Microsoft's  announcement is being made about a  hypervisor whose first release is  roughly  two years away  or more, and while the Linux hypervisor interfaces are still being discussed in the community"

VMware has in the past taken a very hard line approach on any other players in the Virtualisation space who attempt to make virtualisation technology a proprietary format. This is a noble approach by a vendor who is the clear market leader in the product space.

The market knows the best of breed and the market will be the true decider in how this plays out. The steps made by Microsoft to release the Virtual Server and Virtual PC products to market for free were also a catchup attempt to gain market share. Remember that VMware had already released it's products on an open source basis while Microsoft seemed to release their products as a catch up or to dump the product because their purchase of Connectix was in my opinion an overvalued purchase too late in the game.

Time will tell.