Why Free Virtualization Won't Necessarily Strike Down VMware

by Sam Dean - May. 07, 2010Comments (6)

Not long ago, I was talking with a friend of mine who works at VMware, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based irtualization software giant. Many people, even very technology-savvy folks, don't realize how big and powerful VMware really is. This is a software company with a market capitalization of nearly $23 billion, and its market cap was larger than that not long ago. The company's CEO is Paul Maritz, who was a powerful executive at Microsoft for many years.

Lately, though, VMware's future has been widely questioned because virtualization features are showing up free in operating systems and there are numerous free and open source virtualization options. My friend at VMware, though, made clear that the company is far from dead.

In 2008, in a post called "Open Source and the Fall of VMware," I wrote about the converging threats to VMware's business:

"VMware is not a one-product company, but its huge market capitalization was largely built on efforts in one arena: virtualization. Unfortunately, that red hot technology is increasingly being encroached on by open source offerings, and it is always a precarious proposition for tech companies to depend on one product category as heavily as VMware has. Just ask the former employees of Netscape or Lotus about that."

In addition to the open source threats to VMware's virtualization offerings, software companies far and wide--including Microsoft--are building virtualization into their operating systems, where the hypervisor is essentially a free software utility. However, my friend at VMware pointed out to me that VMware itself offers virtualization software for free, and he pointed out that just getting a free hypervisor is hardly the whole equation. IT managers, for example, use VMware's dashboards and utilities to monitor virtualized software implementations throughout enterprises. On top of that, they also use VMware's management software to optimize virtualization in data centers, where optimization can save companies substantial amounts of money because they can save on costly servers, energy costs, and more.

In additon to these points, my friend noted that virtualization is just very, very complex--a tough computing problem to crack. According to him, not every player is necessarily really good at it. That's why this week's news that VMware is buying Gemstone isn't necessarily as random as some are making it out to be. SpringSource, a big player in open source and a key company for software developers--especially ones focused on Java--is now a division of VMware. Gemstone and its software framework will be part of VMware's effort to offer more to developers focused on building applications that take advantage of virtualized software implementations. It's an attempt to add value for those developers.

The more I consider the new directions that VMware is going in, the more I think it may have a brighter future than many people think. Paul Maritz knows how software and audiences for it work. VMware is focused on offering added-value software on top of hypervisors--ranging from dashboards to development tools. And there is certainly no stopping the virtualization train, where it is really making a difference in previously costly data centers. VMware remains a software story to watch.

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by john on May. 08, 2010

I use virtualbox at home, and it's brilliant. Its lack of support for audio cds led me to install vmware server, and the difference in implementation surprised me.

Yes, I know it's free, and probably not representative of the usability of the real product, but as virtualisation becomes still more prevalent, this is how brands get built or toppled: by new people's experience of their first forays into the technology. And VMware Server put me off completely.

My perception of VMware is now like IBM in the 90's - Trading on its size and an old-fashioned model of highly skilled technical staff being available everywhere. And IBM nearly died.

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by bjb1959 on May. 08, 2010

I have used Virtualbox for quite awhile and although I like it very much it doesn't support aero effects in windows 7. This isn't a huge issue but it is nice that VMware does and that is what I use to run my Windows 7 install. From a non-technical "regular" user perspective the usability for me was fine and I use the player to automatically start the session from my KDE 4.4 desktop like a regular application in fullscreen. Works great for me.

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by dsh on May. 08, 2010

VMWare Server is really not intended to be a home virtualization product. As a home user, you are much more likely to be comfortable with VMWare Player. Don't let the name fool you; Player can also create VMs. The differences between VMWare and VirtualBox really highlight the head-start VMWare has in this arena. Networking in VMWare is a snap, VMs are automatically addressable in the host / NAT network - no port forwarding or any other nonsense needed. VMWare Server is a little awkward for the home user, but very powerful, if you want your VMs to be available from across a network. I can also get direct access to drives in VMWare; something I have had trouble with under VirtualBox.

My perception of VMware is now like IBM in the 90's - Trading on its size and an old-fashioned model of highly skilled technical staff being available everywhere. And IBM nearly died.

Your really need to do a little more research before making sweeping statements like this one - and make sure you are comparing apples to apples. You can't really compare the usability and simplicity of a home solution to that of enterprise software. VMWare has products in this niche: Player(free), Workstation (not free), Fusion (not free).

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by an anonymous user on May. 08, 2010

Any serious enterprise implementation of virtualization must include fault tolerance and hot failover features. Additionally, good resource management tools are critical. This is where the commercial implementations stand apart from the free ones.

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by Rolf at Adcap Network Systems on Aug. 03, 2010

VMware is advancing in so many directions, it is difficult to look at them as a one-product company that just does server virtualization. One of the biggest areas of interest that we are seeing with customers is desktop virtualization.

Online desktop virtualization allows companies to get out of the PC upgrade lifecycle that makes them upgrade every 3-4 years. This is a huge cost saver.

Furthermore, offline desktop virtualization for laptops gives much better control of applications and provides a higher level of usability for mobile users.

Then when you talk about them moving into application virtualization because they have great software development tools it takes them to another level.

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