Microsoft Strips Major Features from Windows Server Virtualization Viridian

Shipping is a crucial aspect in the development of any product. And in order to respect the initial plans to make Windows Server Virtualization Viridian available within 180 days since the launch of Windows server 2008 Longhorn, Microsoft has announced that it has stripped a set of major features from the product.

Mike Neil, General Manager, Virtualization Strategy, revealed that the Viridian shipping date, correlated with the development timeframe available and the quality standards imposed, meant that features had to be traded off, if Microsoft was to respect the deadline.

"The mythical man-month - resources are not infinite and even if you could add more it does not help get more done faster. So we had some really tough decisions to make. We adjusted the feature set of Windows Server virtualization so that we can deliver a compelling solution for core virtualization scenarios while holding true to desired timelines. Windows Server virtualization is a core OS technology for the future, and we chose to focus on virtualization scenarios that meet the demands of the broad market - enterprise, large organizations, and mid-market customers. We continue to offer great technology and successful strategies for enterprise customers by broadly investing in the several areas," Neil revealed.

Consequently, Microsoft informed that it will introduce a few changes to the original collection of features announced for Viridian, postponing a few for a future release. This means that Windows Server Virtualization Viridian will not feature Live migration, or hot-add resources (storage, networking, memory, processor) and will bring to the table a support limit of 16 cores/logical processors (e.g., 2 processor, quad-core systems is 8 cores; or 4 processor, quad-core system is 16 cores).

"I wanted to share this information this week with partners and customers so that no one is surprised at WinHEC when we demo all the other innovations in Windows Server virtualization," Neil said, adding that the Viridian Beta is scheduled to go live concomitantly with the release to manufacturing of Windows Server 2008, codename Longhorn.