This is not a secret. Virtualization technology is going into the OS.
One common question these days is: “Do we have a publicly available roadmap for Microsoft Virtualization?”
I thought that you would be interested to find out the answer as Virtualization is and going be a key infrastructure enabling technology. The answer below is a cut and paste from comments by one of the product program managers:
Microsoft President, Steve Ballmer, stated publicly at the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas on April 20th, 2005 that we see virtualization as a core enabling technology. To that end, Microsoft will provide Windows virtualization in the Longhorn Server wave.
Rather than try to paraphrase, I’m going to point you to the URL so you can see and hear Steve yourself as well as obtain a transcript and copy of his PowerPoint deck. If you don’t believe the Microsoft commitment to virtualization after this, listen to it again. If you want to skip to the part on Microsoft virtualization, fast forward about 50 minutes into the demo.
Keynote:
https://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/mgmtsummit/keynotes.asp
On a more detailed level, we have a publicly available slide deck delivered by Mike Neil, Windows Virtualization Product Unit Manager at WinHec. This deck explains our roadmap from Virtual Server 2005 RTM to Windows Virtualization. This deck details some of the key features we are considering and discusses the new architecture that will be employed in Windows virtualization. This deck is publicly available at:
Some of the key points in this deck are:
- Virtualization is going into the OS in the Longhorn Server wave.
- Windows virtualization will be hypervisor based and take full advantage of hardware innovations from Intel and AMD in the forms of VT and Pacifica, respectively.
- Windows virtualization will provide 32-bit and 64-bit guests.
- We will have a smooth migration from path from Virtual Server to Windows virtualization. We want our valued customers know that their Virtual Server investment will be safe with a migration path to Windows virtualization.
- …and plenty more so check out the deck…