Microsoft wedges its way into VMworld 2011 with anti-VMware video

Not to be left out, Microsoft has asserted its opinion on host of this week’s big conference in Las Vegas, VMworld 2011, by way of a Youtube video touting its private cloud services. The video pokes fun at VMware’s longstanding decision to stay out of multi-hypervisor management (since, according to VMware, no one is demanding Hyper-V management anyway) and appeals to the ultimate nightmare in technology: getting left behind. While the point of the ad seems to be Microsoft saying “Hey! Look at me!” more than sending an actual message, the idea that virtualization is a thing of the past may not be too convincing for VMWorld’s over 20,000 attendees.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/hewedqvSWaI" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

This isn’t the first case of Microsoft playing dirty, something VMware has grown accustomed to in the past few years. What are your thoughts on the feud and the ad? Does Microsoft have a case or are they blowing smoke?

Let me know in the comments section or send an email directly to Melanie@ITKnowledgeExchange.com.

Melanie Yarbrough is the assistant community editor at ITKnowledgeExchange.com. Follow her on Twitter or send her an email at Melanie@ITKnowledgeExchange.com.

Far from VMWorld, virtualization contender Red Hat starts lobbing stones

How do you know you’re successful? You start finding more enemies. A recent article by Steven Vaughn-Nichols should bring a smile to fans of VMWare: Red Hat, the enterprise Linux giant, sees itself facing off not against enterprise mainstays like Oracle in the future but virtualization and cloud companies. Specifically, VMware:
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VMworld, come hell or high water

This year’s attendees might be facing a little of both as they make their way to VMware’s annual conference: Even as Hurricane-cum-Tropical Storm Irene was wreaking H20 havoc across the Northeast and canceling Sunday, Monday and even Tuesday flights, conference host Las Vegas was flirting with temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fortunately, it looks like the conference won’t be a wash: Virtualization Room/SearchServerVirtualization contributor Eric Siebert reported via Twitter that attendance was up to 10,000 paid attendees (20,000 total) from 6,000 last year. Look back to 2009, when attendance was dropping, and it might help one feel better about the state of virtualization adoption, the economy or simply the enduring appeal of Sin City. Either way, I think it’s a win.

Among the 20,000 in attendance will be myself, Mr. Denny of SQL Server fame and a large contingent of top-notch reporters and editors from SearchVirtualization, already on the ground in force. Follow their coverage at SearchVMworld2011.com.

Michael Morisy is the editorial director for ITKnowledgeExchange. He can be followed on Twitter or you can reach him at Michael@ITKnowledgeExchange.com. Photo source is Flickr user rdmathers and licensed under Creative Commons.

5 Things Your System Documentation Should Be – Part 2

We’re always striving to find new ways for community members to share knowledge with one another. In Parts 1 & 2 of Mike Malesevich’s posts on system documentation, he has compiled lists of what your system documentation should include, and what the process should look like. That’s where you come in: We want to hear from you about your own processes of system documentation. Share with us what it looks like, what your obstacles are, and what you’ve found works for you. Leave this information in the comments section so we can soon compile it into a living wiki for everyone to access. Have questions? Let me know at Melanie@ITKnowledgeExchange.com. Read 5 Things Your System Documentation Should Be – Part 1.

Get in on the discussion in our Open IT Forum.

I have suggested five components of an application documentation set. This configuration provides a structured organization, covers a wide range of clients, and minimizes overlap. Not every application will require all the components.

Now, I will describe the components in more detail.
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5 Things Your System Documentation Should Be – Part 1

We’re always striving to find new ways for community members to share knowledge with one another. In Parts 1 & 2 of Mike Malesevich’s posts on system documentation, he has compiled lists of what your system documentation should include, and what the process should look like. That’s where you come in: We want to hear from you about your own processes of system documentation. Share with us what it looks like, what your obstacles are, and what you’ve found works for you. Leave this information in the comments section so we can soon compile it into a living wiki for everyone to access. Have questions? Let me know at Melanie@ITKnowledgeExchange.com.

Get in on the discussion in our Open IT Forum.

While documentation doesn’t necessarily make the world go ’round, it certainly keeps it spinning neatly on its axis when trouble arises. If you’re providing a product or service, you should be providing your customers with accurate information that allows them to effectively use and maintain that product, which translates into accurate and thorough documentation.

When an IT project begins, there is normally time allocated for documentation purposes, however, as development issues crop up, time is often siphoned out of the documentation components and allocated elsewhere.

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Arrington’s Awful HP Advice: Leave commodity PC market for a worse one

Just after writing about HP’s successes in the enterprise services market, I came across Michael Arrington’s plea for HP to continue making the TouchPad. He really, really wanted his own foray into the tablet market, the ill-fated CrunchPad, to work, and he sees this as an opportunity to promote some sort of spiritual successor. He even modified the headline from “Dear HP: Please Keep Making Those TouchPads” to “Dear HP: Please Keep Making Those CrunchPads! Er…TouchPads” (see the URL). Continued »

Old HP’s one bright spot: Eating Cisco’s Lunch

HP ditching a low-margin business to focus on new software initiatives? Sure sounded a lot like the recent headlines could have applied to HP’s inroads in the networking business, which have come largely at the cost of undercutting Cisco’s networking, storage and server markets in a brutal price war. And while the real (first) victims were HP’s market-dominating consumer PC division and its nascent attempts at mobile greatness, WebOS, my curiosity was piqued: What will happen to HP’s corporate hardware, now that it’s becoming a corporate software company? Continued »

Read up on virtualization: Titles for your plane ride to VMworld 2011

Photo via Sky Mall

Next week is the much-anticipated VMworld 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. IT Knowledge Exchange is gearing up to bring you live coverage from the conference – with you in mind, of course – and part of that is outlining some great virtualization books you should take with you to read on the plane. So put down that Sky Mall magazine, and dive into one of these great virtualization reads.

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Chrome Extensions: The next spear phishing vector?

The other day, a Chrome extension I’ve used from time to time, Awesome Screenshot, prompted me to “enable it” again because the mini-application needed increased permissions. It’s been the perfect solution for the simple, no-fuss screenshots I need to take from time to time for my job as a technology blogger, but I didn’t need it now and I didn’t have the time to figure out why on earth it needed its permissions increased. I clicked ignore and decided to take a look at it later, or more likely, just enable it when I needed it again.

Turns out, I had good reason to be wary. Continued »

Can RIM survive when their own execs say “Nothing has changed”?

Al Sacco, an open BlackBerry optimist, has a great interview with Mike Kirkup, RIM’s Director of Developer Relations. Kirkup goes through all the great advances RIM’s made with its platform, particularly going forward: A simplified development platform; a more responsive, beautifully designed UI; and tight integration with BBM, RIM’s highly addictive messaging service.

Sacco’s article closes on what is supposed to be a positive note:

“Nothing has changed” for RIM and BlackBerry, [Kirkup] says.

The company still has a very solid foundation, Kirkup says, built on more than a decade of mobile-device-specific work in the technology industry. RIM is still the security de facto for many governments and other security-conscious organizations. It still has many, many loyal users. And RIM is currently producing and shipping the best products it’s ever offered, according to Kirkup.

For RIM, “Nothing has changed.” Unfortunately, the rest of the world has. IT no longer calls the shots on technology the way it once did. As HP will sadly tell you, a slick, next generation OS doesn’t necessarily cut it, and RIM’s updates haven’t received the critical plaudits that WebOS has. Continued »