Quick Thoughts on VMworld 2010
Last month on Virtumania podcast #16, "
The one about vExperts and VMworld," we talked about VMworld. It's a good reminder that VMworld is right around the corner. The event will be markedly different in 2010 than other years.
The first change is how sessions will be offered and scheduled. The new arrangement as I understand it will be that there will be fewer sessions offered more frequently. This is in response to attendee feedback that they can't get the sessions they want to attend.
The second change is that the two VMworld events are scheduled close to each other. VMworld in San Francisco is Aug. 30 through Sept. 2 and the Europe show in Copenhagen runs from Oct. 12-14. Historically, VMware has worked to have some major announcement at each event. With the events scheduled close to each other, that pressure is reduced.
I'll be at VMworld in San Francisco this year and I'm coming with a new perspective on the event. Basically, I'm of the opinion that we are at a make or break point with Hyper-V virtualization. VMware's server virtualization market share can only go down. This is somewhat unfortunate because I still think VMware has the superior solution, yet history has shown that Microsoft in the long run will win. I can very clearly remember how Novell NetWare (version 3!) was a superior product to Microsoft for file serving, yet the market went in Microsoft's direction. Application support was ultimately the killer for NetWare; I am watching the market carefully nowadays.
Aside from my soapbox rant, I am looking forward to VMworld. Primarily, I think the partner ecosystem for VMware is maturing, and I'm excited to see what is available in person.
Will you be attending VMworld this year? What do you look forward to at the event? Share your comments here.
Posted by Rick Vanover on 07/07/2010 at 12:47 PM