Comments on: Microsoft and the looming storm over virtualization

CNET News.com's Charles Cooper says an industry grumbling over pricing hints at a deeper rift. Is a legal showdown ahead?

[MattLPMP]

You're talking about licensing consolidation

Although the argument has some merit regarding computing units, you're blithely ignoring that virtualization is a hardware consolidation strategy, not a license consolidation strategy. If I can migrate six boxes into a single server running five VMs, why shouldn't I have to pay for the accessibility of six servers? I have already reaped my dual-core benefit (which you failed to mention), and taken tens of thousands of dollars worth of hardware (and future upgrades, and warranties) off the books.

[kod10]

What About Single OS Virtualization

SWSoft's Virtuozo Windows (or Containers on Sun systems) only virtualizes or partitions one Windows copy per server - licensing for this technology seems to be much less complex and much less expensive

[abogey]

I'm a Windows guy, but...

If Microsoft is not 'fair' in how it handles licenses for virtual machines I believe they will drive many users to alternatives like Linux.

[abogey]

I'm a Windows guy, but...

If Microsoft is not 'fair' in how it handles licenses for virtual machines I believe they will drive many users to alternatives like Linux.

[vladwiel]

Why multiple instances of Windows?

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but why would one want to run multiple copies of Windows on a single machine?? I understand the benefits of virtualization as it applies to running different OS's on a single box, or an OS that doesn't run natively on this type of hardware - but if why multiple instances of the same OS?