server-side applications

Bottom line first: Microsoft has absolutely no incentive to move a revenue-slashing technology out of its labs at all - never mind quickly.

Virtualization of server-side applications that decouples an application from the OS (which Microsoft demoed from its development lab and which AppZero does today for real customers in the real world) drastically cuts the $$$$$s expended for OS-s and support infrastructure.

Q:What about this cost-savings value proposition is attractive to our pals in Redmond?
A: Absolutely nothing.

Q: Are they lying when they say that this capability is under development?
A: No reason to do that.

Q:When will it be released?
A: No plan to do that. At least none that are announced.

The most logical scenario is that the lab elves are indeed scurrying around developing just the capability that they demoed. (Not to be repetitive, but exactly the capability that AppZero offers today.) And that Microsoft will let the fledgling product fly when the inevitable public demand ... well ... demands it.

And I do believe that public demand for server-side application virtualization is inevitable because:

• Virtualization is not a fad - It is the IT version of common sense

• Client-side application virtualization is well accepted and proven to save bundles of $$$s. But of the many players in this space, to date, none have addressed the complexity of server apps.

• Server-side applications can not sit on the sidelines of virtualization

• In the move to cloud computing, enterprises will not do a wholesale discard of current applications, so they'll need a way to cloud-enable or retro-fit those apps (In fact, Gartner anticipates that companies will do just that - move existing applications to the cloud with as little modification as possible, rather than rearchitect and rewrite.)

• Windows server applications are not a rare occurrence in the IT landscape. So there must be a way to virtualize them for movement to the cloud and in the data center without violating licenses ...Oh, wait a second ... there is a way - it's AppZero (I crack myself up.)

We're doing really well for lots of reasons. But believe me, feeding our shareholders takes more than our being a Gartner Cool Vendor in Cloud Computing (cool though that is.) Right now, the virtualization of server-side applications is early market. I'm in a position to know. So there is really no pressure on Microsoft to come out with this technology and no shame in not having what no one else but a nifty company called AppZero has to date.