Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005 SP1 Brings Linux Support for VMs

Microsoft head Steve Ballmer has promised to add Linux support for the first time in one of its products because, he explained, users need to manage heterogeneous networks. Support for the software giant's open-source rival and greatest threat will come in Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1, due to ship by the end of the year, Ballmer said as part of his keynote speech at the company’s annual summit.

"We will add support for non-Windows virtual machines running on our Virtual Server, including Linux," he said. "Virtualisation is an area of intense interest and activity for us. Driving virtualisation is a key technology to facilitate better compatibility and lower total cost of ownership."

Ballmer also said Microsoft would use its Dynamic Systems Initiative to become an "enterprise management vendor" and deliver tools that let users extract management intelligence from their network nodes regardless of vendor.

He also joked about his "no-show" at last year’s Management Summit, when he had to cancel his keynote after being called away to meet with the European Union, which eventually fined the company $613 million.

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