The Minority Report

I decided to do a major clip job on the news that Paul Maritz of VMWare released an Open Source version of their VMware View client (links below). There are a few reasons why he did that, one being Open Source is a good way to get your product foot in the door and it ultimately increases your compatibility and extends your platform reach.

However, you and I both know that’s not why he did it…

Last year, following a crash in its share price and the replacement of its CEO with a seasoned Microsoft executive, I wrote about the perils that virtualization titan VMware faces. The problems come from two trends: 1) open source virtualization offerings; and 2) free virtualization within operating systems. From the free virtualization project Xen to the virtualization that Microsoft, Sun, Red Hat and others offer in operating systems,VMware’s proprietary strategy looked mighty shaky. Today, VMware made what I consider the shrewdest move it could: launching an open source client for virtual desktops.

The CEO replacement who entered VMware last year was Paul Maritz, a long-time Microsoft executive with intimate familiarity with how Windows swallowed up entire categories of utility software as it grew up, by simply wrapping free utilities into the operating system. Paul knows about that, and he had to have seen last year the dual threats to VMware of open source virtualization offerings and virtualization on board in operating systems.

VMware releases open source VDI client – Gabe Knuth – BrianMadden.com

You need to know a little bit about Paul Maritz^W‘s history to understand why he did what he did. Here is the pertinent information from the ‘pedia.

From 1986 to 2000 he worked at Microsoft, leaving as executive vice president of the Platforms Strategy and Developer Group and part of the 5-person executive management team. He was often said to be the third-ranking executive, behind Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. He was responsible for essentially all of Microsoft’s desktop and server software, including such major initiatives as the development Windows 95, Windows NT, and Internet Explorer.

Paul Maritz – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As the third-ranking executive behind Bill Gates and Ballmer, he knows first hand what Microsoft does to their competition and while they appear to be “reforming” they are still Microsoft. With the inclusion of HyperV into Windows Server 2008, Paul has to know the threat that is coming from this “free” piece of software to his expensive piece of software, VMware. I use VMware everyday and think it’s the bees knees and I personally have a vested interest in seeing that VMware continues on and doesn’t get the Netscape treatment. Making even a small piece of the VMware technology Open Source is a smart move and one that might even be too late.

I didn’t agree with the replacement of Diane Greene^W at the time because of her excellent reputation within VMware and her brilliant moves with the software company over the years. However, to combat the Microsoft threat, Paul Maritz couldn’t have been a better choice.

VMware Saw the Threat, Releases Open Source Virtualization Client

VMware announced this morning that they’ve created an open source version of the VMware View client software called the VMware View Open Client.  This new client will be compatible not only with VMware View, but also VMware VDM 2.0 and 2.1.

VMware releases open source VDI client – Gabe Knuth – BrianMadden.com

VMware View Open Client is available under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 (LGPL v 2.1) and is accessible from  http://code.google.com/p/vmware-view-open-client/. Some of the features included in this release support secure tunneling using SSL, two factor authentication with RSA SecurID, Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Thin Client Add-On RPM package and a full command line interface. Support for the source code distribution is available through the VMware View Open Client community at: http://code.google.com/p/vmware-view-open-client/.

VMware Announces First Open Source Virtual Desktop Client, Enabling Partners to Optimize Devices for VMware View and Provide Low-Cost Desktop Solutions – VMware

Features

Some of the features included are:

* Ability to create a secure tunnel using SSL
* Support for two factor authentication with RSA SecurID
* Novell SLETC Add-On RPM package
* Full command line interface

The following features are NOT included in this release:

* USB redirection
* Multiple desktop sessions
* Multimedia redirection

For a full list of features please refer to the README.txt file available with the distribution.

vmware-view-open-client – Google Code

VMware View Open Client binaries are provided in the following forms:

• A Debian package for distributions based on Debian such as Ubuntu
• An RPM package, which should work on most RPM-based Linux distributions such as Fedora and openSUSE
• An add-on package for SLETC
• A binary tarball, for use on distributions that do not use RPMs or Debian packages

Installing – vmware-view-open-client – How to Install VMware View Open Client – Google Code

VMware, Microsoft, HyperV, Paul Maritz, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Diane Greene, open source, Google