Comments on: Microsoft relaxes virtual-machine rules

Software maker lifts a licensing restriction that had allowed software running inside virtual machines to shift hardware only once every 90 days.

[MadLyb]

About time.

Now if other vendors will follow suit, virtualization costs will drop dramatically encouraging adoption.

[theveggiedude]

I like how they say they are "innovating" instead of catching up with customer demands. The word is made useless today.

[zvonr]

"innovating its licensing policies"

An excellent example of Microsoft innovation!

[kojacked]

This a great news! I wonder if other vendors will follow suit? I suppose if other vendors don't they may loose market share to Microsoft as people move to their products to avoid such license restrictions. And sure companies could move to open source products to solve licencing issues to but I would suspect that these same companies would have done so already. Actually if you think about it this strategy may also help Microsoft retain existing customers because it removes one reason for them to make the move to open source (it's not a bad thing to move to open source, I'm just commenting on strategy). I guess this is another example of why Microsoft is so dominant in the market. And before you Microsoft haters chime in on this let me remind you that this provides customers with more OPTIONS not lock-in.

[The_Decider]

More options to buy MS products which all of them exist to lock in customers!

Why is it that MS fans are consistently ignorant?

[Vegaman_Dan]

The_Decider wrote:

"More options to buy MS products which all of them exist to lock in customers!

Why is it that MS fans are consistently ignorant?"

And your comment here displays very well your basic ignorance of the entire IT industry.

[The_Decider]

Care to back that up Dan?

I can't believe MS pays you to post here.

MS products are all used as lock in tools. No different then say Cisco.

[Seaspray0]

And how is this going to be implimented? Just because microsoft says so doesn't mean the software knows this. Will there be a patch of some kind and when can we expect it? Ina Fried, do you know the answer?

[bulldoggk]

This doesn't mean that the software can run simultaneously on more than one machine. This just means that it is allowed to run on more than one piece of hardware in a 90 day period, which is what would happen in a provisioned, virtualized environment.

[mchinsky]

Why do I think this coincidentally occurs soon after Microsoft released their own Hypervisor? This wouldn never have happened just due to pressure from vendors like vmware.

[bulldoggk]

Microsoft has had a hypervisor for a long time now in the form of Virtual PC and Virtual Server.

In fact, this change came about because they gave in. So many people went right on and use the technology anyway that Microsoft would've had to pretty much sue them all to enforce the old license agreement.

[ittesi259]

Actually I see it as Microsoft being flexible to keep customers from looking for non MS options, not providing options to others.

[EveryUserNameIsTaken]

This looks like an error in this article around whether or not VMWare will be a supported platform. This article states: "Under the changes, Microsoft will support its software running inside virtual machines from VMware, Cisco Systems, Citrix, Novell, Sun Microsystems, and Virtual Iron as if it were being run in nonvirtual environments." The official Microsoft Press Release on this states that the new policy is to support products on virtualization platforms that are validated as part of the Microsoft Server Virtualization Validation Program. Neither the Microsoft Press Release nor the Server Virtualization Validation Program web site list VMWare as participating in that program, so it would seem that the support policy for products running on VMWare would still be not supported.

see:
www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/aug08/08-19EasyPathPR.mspx
and
windowsservercatalog.com/svvp

Am I missing something? VMWare seems absent from the lists Microsoft provides. Is there any source that confirms VMWare will be supported?

[Penguinisto]

@kojacked:

Xen is free, as both in beer and in source code. I wonder if Microsoft will follow suit? ;)

Also, VMWare's VMotion has to allow a VM to run on two machines in order to work, so yes it already has that ability. And, ESXi is free and can run on multiple machines without license worries (save for the fake license 'keys' you generate for free, if VMWare Server is any indication).

IOW, Microsoft is actually catching up to everyone else, not the other way 'round. ;)

@Seaspray:

Prolly a patch.

@mchinsky:

bulldoggk is correct, though so are you as per the reasons why they did it.

[kojacked]

@Peng: Let me help the clueless...

Re: Xen being free:

"And sure companies could move to open source products to solve licencing issues to but I would suspect that these same companies would have done so already. "

Re: IOW, Microsoft is actually catching up to everyone else, not the other way 'round

Ah, read the article next time. It was about Microsoft changing the licensing of their APPLICATIONS allowing you to run them on failover VMs not about virtural server software being free. Now if you comments mention licensing of APPLICATIONS that run in VMs that would make more sense but of course coming from you what can we expect...

[Penguinisto]

Yeah, sure - the 'if they wanted it they would have done so by now' argument is clueless, as Xen has just barely matured enough to be useful in an enterprise environment.

PS: Nice way to take something out of context, kiddo (I never said that MSFT is catching up by making anything free - I was bringing up a large an obvious counter-point to your clueless insinuation that MSFT was some kind of market leader. ;)

[kojacked]

No Peng you were making a point that had nothing to do with the article or my comments. If you were countering my point then why don't you stay on subject? Dragging in the out-of-context price and capabities of VM software says nothing about how Microsoft is doing a great service to the industry by loosening these application's licensing restrictions and how other vendors should follow. But we all know you Peng; you'll spin any Microsoft positive into a negative no matter how far you have to reach to make your point (a.k.a. spew your FUD).

[EveryUserNameIsTaken]

Found more info. Looks like this article is not accurate with regard to VMWare. According to VMWare's site, they are not participating in the Microsoft program to validate 3rd party virtualization products for support.

VMWARE statement http://www.vmware.com/solutions/whitepapers/msoft_policies_wp.html

Microsoft announced their intent to provide a cooperative technical support mechanism to all customers running Windows Server on qualified hypervisor platforms in November, 2007 through the Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP). This program was launched in June, 2008.

VMware believes the SVVP to be a positive step toward more comprehensive customer support, although it fails to address support for all Microsoft Server products. VMware is working with Microsoft to resolve technical and commercial elements of the program, and hopes that this will lead to VMware participation.

[JohnTroyer]

@EveryUserNameIsTaken: VMware is definitely participating in the SVVP program, but evidently they didn't make it in time for the big announcement today.

[as901]

I switched to Linux, and I could not be happier! The idea that Microsoft can tell me how I may use my computer is insane! I realize our government has allowed business to create copyright rules that are just the opposite of the "deregulation" they claimed to believe in.

What the big corporations want is no rules for them, while they waste small investors money and semi slave rules for us working folk!

It is time to pass laws that protect consumers from companies that lie when they claim the system is stable, and remotely disable our computers if we change out hardware! I will eat glass before I ever use a Microsoft product again!

Mark Heinemann

[MSrules]

It amazes me that people still use command line OS's like linux these days.

I know, I know, they have a GUI. But as I talk to the experts, they all say "to be an expert, you MUST know linux command line" They are always "telnetting" and recompiling kernals.

We run a 'pure" Microsoft LAN/WAN in Manhattan and almost every piece of software is Microsoft, and the few that arent are WIndows Vista 32 bit logo certified. We havent had a crash or blue screen since Windows 98. Do they still use a blue screen?

We have 8 virtual servers, and this new licensing model really doesnt make much difference to us. I dont move them around too much, and if I did, I certainly wouldnt have followed the "90 day rule" anyways.

I get around alot in Manhattan, and still have NEVER seen linux in a business. I know it will happen someday, and no, I dont visit alot of dotcoms.

Our Vista rollout went flawless, yet all I see around is XP and Leopard in other businesses. (of course we waited for SP1, before we rolled it out)

maybe they all believe those mac commercials with the "PC guy" . I guess they'd be good candidates for the http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/ LOL

[no_arab_president]

who said all the good usernames were taken? :)

in any case, I dont know anyone who follows the 90 day rule. As long as its a legit copy of Win2008, or Vista, who cares if you move the virtual PC to another server. I'd never run it both places at once, but to move it? no big deal

and to MSRules, I wish WE could go pure Microsoft also, but you know the biggest showstopper, that damned acrobat. never mind Microsoft buying Yahoo, Microsoft should buy Adobe!

Maybe then Adobe would follow Microsoft programming standards and make their apps Windows logo compliant.

We run Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2, with around 40 virtual machines, and we dont have linucks either. I have seen it on youtube, but never in real life.

We run Vista Business and I have found the registry hack to get dreamscenes working!
All our users have dreamscenes running, and find it very relaxing. One guy even made a dream of his back yard, with a HD video cam! All the processing offloaded to the GPU and the PC running at 5% utilization. The best dream is a premium dream called "good night Earth" but the free dream called "wasser" is also cool.

sorry I went off topic, but the idea of a "PURE" Microsoft LAN got me all excited. You should email me dude, so we can talk offline.

and to Mark Heinneman, maybe if you used logo compliant apps, and up to date hardware, your Vista would be stable. And they dont "disable your computer" It's just an annoying startup warning called WGA warning, and you can click past it. People were imaging the OS, and rolling it out to thousands of PC's, its called piracy, and is illegal.

[no_arab_president]

oh, btw MSRules, We have leopard running in VMWARE (on Vista), and yes, we bought a Leopard license.