Microsoft has just released Virtual Server 2005 R2. The software is central to Microsoft’s planned server system, so grab the free download of Virtual Server here. Surprisingly, Microsoft has also announced support for virtualizing Linux in the Virtual Server 2005 system. Currently supported flavors of Linux include Red Hat and SuSE, in both Standard and Enterprise versions. An explanation of why Microsoft is freeing Virtual Server permanently is in this quick interview with Zane Adam, Windows Server director of product marketing.

The support for Linux on Virtual Server does make sense. Microsoft’s denial that their customers were using Linux was driving the same customers to actively search for non-Microsoft and open source replacement programs. This could continue to keep Windows Server relevant as open source OS’s improve and reduce Windows’ feature/ease-of-use advantage - provided that Microsoft can provide a decent level of support for Linux guest servers (virtual systems running inside Virtual Server) and create a good set of tools to manage those Linux systems. With Red Hat and Novell, parent of SuSe Linux, relying on support fees for income it will be interesting to see how they respond to Microsoft’s added Linux support. With the licensing and support fees for both companies’ Enterprise Linux versions this move puts all these server OS players on even closer footing.

One minor player who has responded is VMWare. A new “VMWare Server” product is now free, though it lacks a lot of the failover features and load balancing capabilities that make VMWare’s higher-end versions so useful. It will be interesting to see how VMWare Server and Virtual Server compare to each other, though VMWare has a strong lead in supporting the widest range of guest operating systems.

Article tagged: Microsoft, Virtual, Server, 2005, R2, Linux, guest, OS, support, operating+system, VMWare, virtualization, Red+Hat, Novell, SuSE

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