Microsoft... when their lips are moving.

Microsoft application virtualization for servers?  I wish. But I'm not holding my breath.  Let me explain the wishing and the breathing parts by starting with the latest buzz.

It started when Mary-Jo Foley, freelance Microsoft blogger extrodinaire, outed the gentle giant's plans to move ahead with application virtualization for servers in her April 14^th post.  She'd ferreted out movement in this direction from a job posting that offered the opportunity to join the App-V team to "bring the revolutionary Application Virtualization technology to a new market - the datacenter."

In response to her pointed inquiries, Mary-Jo was told (roughly) the following:

• No product announcements in the "forseeable future"
• Application virtualization for servers is an area of interest to Microsoft customers
• "If Microsoft releases Application Virtualization for Windows Server, it's not killing its Hyper-V strategy: it's implicitly suggesting to use hardware virtualization for OS delivery and application virtualization for services delivery." (emphasis is mine)

Amen.  You go girl.

I was pretty excited about Microsoft's entry into this space.  Why?  Because any time Redmond pees on the 4 corners of a market, that space is immediately validated.  And server-side application virtualization is AppZero's claim to fame.  We do Windows - and we do it now.

So I jubilantly commented on Mary-Jo's blog saying:

Why wait?

Why wait for the boys in Redmond? They have been talking about this for a long time.

You want to save money?

Simplify the data center?

Move sever base application to the cloud?

With no code changes?

Go with AppZero it is available now.

May 8^th, Mary-Jo returned to the topic observing that Microsoft had demoed the Softricity-derived App-V running on a server.  Interesting points in this blog include:

• App-V for server "won't be here for a good while, but it'll cause big ripples in the traditional way you deploy server applications in your infrastructure of the future." (Matt McSpirit, Microsoft virtualization blogger) You think? (Greg O'Connor, CEO AppZero)
• App-V is a client product only available to customers who license Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) under software assurance.
• There is no publicly available time line for the server version (and where will it live?)

I've already covered the wish part of my opening.  Why am I not holding my breath?  Because I don't believe Microsoft will do server side application virtualization any time soon.  And I don't look all that good in blue.

I'll share my reasoning in a later blog.  In the meantime - keep up the good work fellow bloggers.