Virtual Server 2005 released - with a very cool tag line

For the huge positive impact that it's going to have on developers and administrators everywhere, the release of Virtual Server 2005 seemed to go by with barely a whisper from Microsoft blogs. One of the coolest aspects of Virtual Server is that it plays well with MOM and SMS right from version one. That's why there's a combined launch roadshow going across America, showcasing MOM 2005 and Virtual Server 2005. For more details about Virtual Server versions and pricing, check out the press release.

Greg Scher of the Unofficial Microsoft Weblog picked up on the significance of the launch when he wrote:

This will give reporting in SMS the ability to differentiate between physical and virtual servers so that they can be patched appropriately. In other words, a virtual server wouldn’t necessarily require the hardware drivers that a physical server requires so this capability gives administrators the ability to now target those patches based on this criteria.

We couldn't have put it better ourselves :-) Then he goes on:

Not sure why, but it looks like servers hosted on Virtual PC for Mac will not be supported. That’s a bit disappointing given the recent release of a new version of Virtual PC for the Mac. If someone can clarify the TECHNICAL reasons for this I’d be interested to hear them because I can’t see any… and no cynical replies please.

I'm guessing that there are indeed hard technical problems here - not impossible problems, but ones that would take a lot of time to consider, solve, debug, test, and support. And that translates to a delayed release and increased cost, to support a relatively small market segment. We can never make everyone happy, and there are trade-offs everywhere: I'm betting that this was one of them. Sorry :-(

Oh, and isn't that a cool tag line? "Pull a server out of thin air". Kudos to whoever in marketing came up with that!