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VMware boss: we rise as Windows fallsVMware CEO Paul Maritz has questioned the relevance of the operating system.According to data lifted from research outfit IDC, more applications were deployed on virtual servers than physical in 2009. This, Maritz says, is a clear indication that operating systems such as Windows and Linux are no longer as important as they once were – though in citing those IDC numbers, the VMware man didn't separate the bare-metal hypervisors from those that run atop an OS."This is a tipping point in our industry," Maritz said this morning during his keynote speech at VMware's annual VMworld conference in San Francisco. "One of the implications is that more and more, traditional operating systems no longer see the hardware. This task of mediating access the hardware in the data center is largely being taken over by a new layer of software: virtualization."Virtualization is not just taking over processing resources, he said, but storage and networking resources as well.He was careful to say that the operating system is by no means "dead." But he repeatedly returned to the notion that the operating system — and in particular Windows — is being pushed aside. The traditional operating system is not only less relevant when it comes to orchestrating server hardware, but also when it comes to providing an end user with access to applications. Increasingly, access to apps is handled by online services.Of course, there's still an OS in the mix, but Maritz said that more and more, "the role of providing services to your applications is going to be through [other means]." Your OS, he seemed to be arguing, is no longer your primary means of authentication. It's no longer your primary means of, say, organizing your applications."This is just another example of where the traditional operating system is becoming just one of several components that need to fit into your [infrastructure]," he said. And when the operating system does come into play, he added, it's less likely to be Windows. Increasingly, we're using devices — from the Apple iPad to various other handhelds — that run something other than Microsoft's once-ubiquitous operating system.Today, VMware and Maritz hailed the arrival of what they call "The New Infrastructure" — data center infrastructure in which just about everything is virtualized, including processing, storage, and networking resources as well as security. This New Infrastructure sounds an awful lot like, well, Vmware's product portfolio. But Maritz says that VMware is simply responding to changes in the IT industry as a whole.VMware, he said more than once, is moving with the tide.The New Infrastructure, he said, will be served up not only from public net services but also by private data centers. And VMware aims to underpin both, trumpeting the so-called "hybrid" cloud where you can build applications that span the public and the private. "It's important to figure out a way to move workloads out of the data center and onto public services, but it's as important to move it back," he said. "This is going to happen with or without VMware. This is the tide."This, Maritz explained, is why VMware has been acquiring development tool outfits such as SpringSource and RabbitMQ. These tools, he said, as they adopt fledgling standards, will allow companies to build applications that can be deployed across multiple clouds. "They can provide a portability layer that allows you to take an application and run it in hybrid cloud environments," he said.As end-user applications are increasing delivered via the net, Maritz explained, VMware also wants to provide "new mechanisms" for providing users with access to applications. Today, the company unveiled a fledgling technology now known as Project Horizon, which will provide a kind of unified access to online application services.In short, the message from Maritz seemed to be that the everywhere Windows is on the decline, VMware is on the rise
Microsoft douses VMware with cold cloud showerMicrosoft has told users they've got "nothing to lose" by checking out the company's Azure cloud and hosted applications before committing to a deal with archrival VMware.In an open letter in the national news comic USA Today on Tuesday, Microsoft claimed a three-year contract with VMware would tie customers into a deal with a company lacking both the applications and flexibility needed for the transition to a cloud-based IT infrastructure.The letter, timed to drop with the opening of VMware's annual VMworld in San Francisco, tried to draw a distinction between using virtualization to consolidate a customer's data center and going further by delivering online services and applications.The corporate vice president for Microsoft's $14bn server and tools business, Brad Anderson, urged:VMware is asking many of you to sign three-year license agreements for your virtualization projects. But with the arrival of cloud computing, signing up for a three-year virtualization commitment may lock you into a vendor that cannot provide you with the breadth of technology, flexibility or scale that you'll need to build a complete cloud computing environment.If you're evaluating a new licensing agreement with VMware, talk to us first. You'll have nothing to lose and plenty to gain... As you build out the next generation of your IT environment we can provide you with the scalable worldwide public cloud computing services that VMware does not offer.He boasted that Microsoft already offers the "brands you know, use and trust today as cloud computing services," meaning Microsoft Office, Exchange, SharePoint, and SQL.He also highlighted Windows Azure's support for different languages with the ability to run new and — he claimed — legacy .NET, Java, Ruby on Rails, and PHP applications on Azure. Also, Anderson pointed to the lower price of Microsoft's Hypervisor versus VMware's.The virtualization giant is one of the companies identified by Microsoft as the reason for a major reorganization of its server and tools business earlier this year. VMware has put Microsoft under intense competitive pressure, according to leaked emails seen by The Reg.Microsoft believes it has an "opportunity to grow significantly in the Tier-1 Enterprise," but VMware is standing in its way. Server and tools is home to some of the products Microsoft is promoting as being cloud-ready, as Redmond hopes to convert users who are familiar with server versions of Exchange and SharePoint into users of the hosted editions.These are early days, though, and Microsoft is desperate to sign up genuine customers and partners along with flagship accounts. It's paying partners to convert customers from rivals' services such as Gmail from Google, while wins on hosted versions of Exchange are coming from Lotus Notes and Novell email converts. These are an extension of Microsoft's existing collaboration battles rather than brand new cloud-services wins.
lol.. wasnt trying to invalidate the point of 'run for years'... there are supposed records of computers running nonstop for 20+ years ('big iron' machines).... just that it doesnt seem a possibility to keep running like that.... 2years? ill give ya... more? ehhhhh.... dunno...3-5 on fans (cheap ones?) must be lucky on your cheap ones cos the ball-bearing fans start chewing themselves apart (grinding noise) after about 1yr and vibration and lack of airflow becomes a problem after about 2... ive got more 'sorta working' socket 7 / 370 size fans than i can count... (they are good for non-computer related projects where the fan helps but if it stops the equipment doesnt break... as long as you can stand the noise lol) and a 92mm thats ~4yrs old and ... well it makes a breeze... not as much of one as id like or that it used to tho...
