• Brief Introduction of Mike Neil and discussion on why he is a virtualization Mike talks a bit about his Connectix days and the early days of desktop virtualization
• Mike's perspectives on the virtualization world today
• Top strengths  and weaknesses of virtualization
• Mike’s response to VMware's statement that "virtualization is the end of the OS"
• Explanation of the Microsoft coined phrase, "enlightenment concept"
• Brief discussion about Hyper-V and some of its features such as, Live Migration and Hot Swap Memory and why they were removed from the upcoming release of Hyper-V
• Citrix's acquisition of XenSource and how it adds value to Microsoft virtualization
• Discussion about VHD and were we can use it and its future
• Mike’s response to the question "If you where king for a day what would you do and how reasonable would it be to achieve?”

About Mike Neil

Mike Neil is general manager for virtualization strategy in the Windows Server Division at Microsoft Corp in Redmond, Wash.  Mike is focused on the delivery of the Windows virtualization technology, including the Windows Server virtualization, as part of Windows Server “Longhorn,” and Virtual PC 2007. Mike also directs the technical enablement of Microsoft’s broader vision for virtualization, to include virtualization management tools. Prior to this role, Mike was responsible for Microsoft’s server and PC virtualization efforts since 2003. 

Mike joined Microsoft as part of Microsoft’s February 2003 acquisition of Connectix Corp.  While at Connectix, Mike was the vice president of engineering and worked on the original team that developed Virtual PC Mac, allowing Apple Macintosh computers to run Windows.  Mike also was one of the founders of Pixo, a small company that developed operating systems and applications for handheld devices, the most notable of which is the Apple iPod. 

After attending the University of Michigan, Mike joined Apple culminating as the integration lead and technical lead for Apple’s OS project code named Copland.