Comments on: VMware feeling the open-source sting

VMware is getting cannibalized by open source. I'm shedding tears for the proprietary would-have-been-king.

[walter_v]

Wow, both the "pressure from open source" and "pressure from Microsoft" interpretations are so far off from what I think is the reason for the new CEO: the well-known internal politics that have always challenged EMC:VMware, even when VMware owned the whole game.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/08/tucci_costs_vmware/

[tristanbob]

Do you have any thoughts on VMware competitor Virtual Iron? Virtual Iron uses the open source Xen hypervisor (yes, the same one as XenSource/Citrix) and a customized version of Suse Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) to provide a product comparable to VMware Infrastructure (ESX).

And you can get Virtual Iron for for 80% less than VMware licensing. Do you think this open source based product is affecting VMware?

http://www.virtualiron.com/

[patricio3838]

Much has been made of VMW core business becoming a commodity. VMW has been combating the ?hypervisor as commodity? issue caused by open source, Citrix and Microsoft via a bundling strategy. So it?s interesting that today it was revealed that they?re increasing the price of products and support by 10% Europe and ANZ. Read here: http://www.virtualization.info/2008/07/vmware-to-raise-prices-in-europe-by-10.html

And as of July 3 they increased the price of their VI Midsize Accelerator Kit (a bundle), sold to the mid-market, by $5,000 to almost $20,000. This price doesn?t include mandatory support. So clearly VMW doesn't believe it needs to lower prices.