Ballmer on interoperability
p2pnet.net News:- “Microsoft takes a vow on interoperability” is how Vnunet.com gets into the story that, “Microsoft will make it easier for businesses to use its management tools for a wide variety of hardware, up to and including Linux systems”.
This is called making a virtue of necessity.
Showing Microsoft’s Virtual Server running Red Hat Linux, "Much as that hurts my eyes, I know that’s an important capability for our Virtual Server customers," ceo Steve Ballmer told delegates to the company’s ‘management summit’ in Las Vegas.
Bill and the Boyz plan to release Virtual Server Service Pack 1 later this year and, in the next generation of Windows, make its .vhd format open and extensible for "smaller, thinner hypervisor" technology, InformationWeek has Ballmer saying.
"Microsoft also plans to support Intel Virtualization Technology, formerly code-named Vanderpool," says the post. "It also will use virtualization technology acquired from Connectix to enhance and simplify corporate re-imaging of desktops in the next version of Windows. Desktop re-imaging is considered a key area of improvement in Windows management."
Steve Ballmer has played-up interoperability between Windows and other operating systems to, "silence critics over the company’s notoriously ‘Windows only’ approach to servers and applications," says The Register.
"Ballmer’s appearance was also in marked contrast to last year’s MMS where the chief executive failed to show despite being billed to appear.
He noted, says The Register, that in spite of Microsoft’s work on services for Unix, collaboration with IBM on web services, and last year’s pact with Sun, people still ask him whether Microsoft is committed to interoperability, and often give him a "quizzical" look.
"Obviously, such a lack of credibility stands in the way of popular acceptance of Microsoft’s autonomic computing-based Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI)," and,. ‘I want to make sure today you understand that from a management perspective we are absolutely committed to interoperability. We’re committed to work in broad industry partnership to deliver great interoperability,’ Ballmer claimed."
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See:-
Vnunet.com – Microsoft takes a vow on interoperability, April 21, 2005
InformationWeek – Microsoft To Launch, License Virtualization For Longhorn, April 20, 2005
The Register – Ballmer: Interoperability, interoperability, interoperability, April 21, 2005
