What I usually compare this to is Citrix and Microsoft. A long time ago Citrix gave the core MetaFrame engine to Microsoft and went down the path of adding value on top of it. At that point if you just wanted to virtualize an app then MS or Citrix could do it. It was built into the MS operating system. Citrix continued to flourish though and even today does a very respectable business with that same added value on top of what’s built into Windows. This is a more logical comparison to what’s been going on in the virtualization space.

Of course now, just when the Citrix comparison starts to make sense VMware decides to lead the industry and Microsoft down a different path. Now all of the comparisons don’t really make sense because we’re heading in a different direction. What’s coming now – the cloud – goes way beyond the traditional OS. You can’t bundle the cloud into Windows. Sure, Windows can become an enabler, but you can’t build a whole cloud on Windows. Instead you need standards and you need all the players in the IT industry to work together. This goes beyond any one vendor and that’s why the Netscape or Citrix and bundling into Windows arguments don’t work anymore.