Microsoft warns of VMware ‘vTax’

LOS ANGELES — The debut of VMware’s controversial new licensing model in vSphere 5 didn’t go unnoticed here at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference.

“They are dangerously close to announcing their next vThing as a vTax,” said Amy Barzdukas, an executive in Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business, in an interview.

Barzdukas also criticized VMware for its approach to high-end features and capabilities, most of which are separate products with separate SKUs. She said Microsoft’s approach is to bake such features directly into the platform. For example, the next version of Windows Server will add data-protection capabilities that require nothing more than Hyper-V and a network connection.

“You can essentially do very high-scale replication,” Barzdukas said. “No additional license, no additional costs, in just a few clicks.”