A different IT world thanks to VMware?

I think it has a lot more to do than just dethroning Microsoft. Microsoft has to come up with a different strategy as well. I welcome Microsoft to use my advice freely to contend into the space as a low-cost innovative rival. But the sad part is that even devoted Microsoft folks are beginning to feel rather disappointed about the Virtual Server offerings from Microsoft.

The fact that VMware's offerings are changing the face of the IT infrastructure and even the work-ethics is something we are experiencing. But it has nothing to do with any dethroning practices like that of Java against ASP. Java is here for being Java and ASP is there for its purpose within the Microsoft environment.

I must honestly say, Microsoft has just about too much in its hands. A columnist also mentioned that its time for deconstruction. And rightly so.

The death of Windows was last prognosticated with the advent and meteoric rise of Java, which had many of the potential landscape changing characteristics of virtualization. In order for VMware to pull of such a coup would require at a minimum another five or so years of technological progress and community acceptance akin to that which has propelled VMware in the past five years. Yet, if Microsoft does not fight back in a cohesive and substantive manner, like it did against the threat of Java – we may be in a different IT world, so to speak, come the next century.

Windows has served its purpose in the enterprise IT and continues to do so in many ways. But there are a lot of things changing and we're talking about CEOs of major companies around the world who are forced to think in lines of burying their products because they are beginning to neglect the ways of the mindset has changed over a short time from 2001 onwards. In fact in many cases their offerings are in total conflict with the modern worker. Sure virtualization is making things easier on all levels. This is giving users freedom. Corporate leaders are finally realizing is that retainment is the key to success. Losing your staff before they even leave your shop is a very painful thing.

So yes VMware has and needs to step up its innovation on all levels (products, business models etc) in order to keep doing the good work and not defending or even rubbing Microsoft the wrong way. Its about innovation and about corporations to breed innovation by complementing the innovation by the likes of VMware. So if you still want my prediction I'll say : "Yes, VMware will continue to innovate on several areas in the coming years to come"

Read this interesting post of Juraj as well.