Microsoft has acquired connectix virtual PC.

[duhmez 0]

I just got the email from connectix.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

I am highly suspicious of their motives.

[adamvjackson 0]

According to the article on Slashdot, this was done so Microsoft could enter the server consolidation market.

[AndyFair 0]

I think they're running scared of Open Source.

Between the Connectix acquisition and the patent for .NET (also on the front page), it looks as though they're trying to close down the routes for people to use Open Source stuff.

 

I may be cynical 8), but that's what it looks like to me

 

AndyF

[duhmez 0]

What does open source have to do with Connectix virtual PC?

[AndyFair 0]

OK, so I'm talking out of my arse (or should that be typing out of my arse? ) - no change there, then.

I was confusing Connectix with VMWare.

 

Actually, from the front page of this week's ITWeek (UK mag, tried to find link for the story, but couldn't), it looks as though Microsoft will be using VirtualPC to persuade NT4 users to upgrade to Server 2003.

 

To quote from the article,

 

Quote:

Microsoft said it will use the tools to support NT4 as a virtual server withing its upcoming Windows Server 2003. This would allow customers to migrate to the newer server OS while retaining older applications

....

Microsoft said the new tools may help extend the life of NT4 applications by running them on new, more manageable hardware. It aims to provide this capability by the autumn. However, this news does not change the outlook for NT4, which is soon to be withdrawn by Microsoft.

 

In another editorial article in the same issue:

Quote:

NT4 business applications and the data associated with them are the crown jewels for some companies, and many do not want or cannot afford to replace or upgrade these applications. With advances in hardware exceeding those in software, running NT4 business applications on Virtual Machine software should not lead to performace problems. So, users could migrate trused applications from their old, flaky boxes onto more reliable new hardware, or so the line from the hardware vendors goes.

In fact, Microsoft will be able to give its version an extra performance boost, Virtually Microsoft perhaps, since it owns the interfaces which Connectix software was developed for. A final question is: how will Microsoft introduce the software? As a separate application? Or as cynics are already suggesting, a plug-in for Windows Server 2003?

 

Food for thought...

AndyF