Kidaro: "Bravo Microsoft"

In a previous blog, I wrote about whether or not VMware will become the next Netscape, I concluded that if VMware were cautious, attentive and innovative, that they could thwart the Microsoft and friends attack. I am still convinced VMware can do it but I got to say it Microsoft is gearing up for a big showdown and the lineup is impressive so far. With Kidaro's acquisition, Microsoft seems to be going after VDI, an area of virtualization that has not really taken off yet for many reasons. Microsoft now also has an offering that can compete with VMware ACE, thereby fighting VMware on every level and putting more pressure on the innovation department at VMware. The obvious trend and the way things are going, it is clear that The "Hypervisor" will quickly become the standard piece of software loaded on any hardware, whether it is a PC or a server. From there you can load 1 VM on this hardware if you want traditional 1 to 1 correlation between hardware and software or load multiple VMs on your PC to replace the old way of doing this (Dual Boot). For servers it is obvious, everyone knows how this works :)

Back to Kidaro, with this acquisition, now Microsoft can push VDI, now they have an offering that puts Microsoft products back on the bare metal hardware as far as desktop virtualization is concerned. Hyper-V puts them back from a server stand point. Kidaro offers a solution that allows a VM to run on your local hardware from a USB key, DVD etc... So now I can take my pc with me on a USB key plug it anywhere and "voila" I am up and running. Ok, ok, ok I am glorifying it a bit too much but it is exciting. I know you need your data; you need your files etc... and that VM image is going to be pretty large once it is loaded with apps but hey, pretty soon we may have 1TB USB sticks :)

 Are we quickly getting to a scenario where we deliver VDI that contains only the base OS image that is locked down, virtualized applications through Softgrid? Do the same thing on the server level and you now have every piece running independently of the other? Theoretically this would be the end of application conflicts; this would be the end of chaos. But will all this harmony stir up different types of issues? Well of course it will otherwise if everything worked smoothly and nothing broke ever, there would not be a need for IT people that much now would there :)

 I know this much, we are living in exciting times as far as technology goes and maybe years from now this will look silly to the next generation but to us going through this shift of how we work technology is exciting. The next wave of virtualization will most definitely be around VDI and application virtualization and it will be a bumpy ride, a rough ride but it will be an awesome ride so be ready.