In Silicon Valley, the story you wrote has long been common knowledge.

The founding management team of VMware wanted freedom to do things, particularly in the area of storage, that were in conflict with EMC’s desires. It was perhaps naive of VMware’s previous management to think they could sell the company to EMC, but not be controlled by it. When EMC’s interests run counter to those of VMware, guess who wins?

VMware’s innovativeness in the realm of storage has surely been reduced by conflicts with its owner. That is inevitable when a storage company owns a system software platform company.

If VMware wasn’t not owned by EMC, its stance on storage would be different.

Buying VMware has been enormously good for EMC. What about the converse? Is VMware better off because EMC bought them? In some ways it has been a tremendous boon. But in other ways, VMware is limited by its owner.

Mark Davis
Virsto Software
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