VMware also charged that Microsoft is unfairly leveraging its ownership of market-leading operating systems and applications to force customers to use Microsoft virtualisation products.
In a white paper published on the VMware web site, the company accused Microsoft was using unreasonable software licensing and distribution terms – for Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange, Windows Server and Vista – and restrictive APIs and formats for virtualised Windows to corral customers into using Microsoft virtualisation products.
“In particular, Microsoft does not have key virtual infrastructure capabilities – like (VMware’s) VMotion – and they are making those either illegal or expensive for customers,” the White Paper charges.
“Microsoft doesn't have virtual desktop offerings, so they are denying it to customers, and Microsoft is moving to control this new layer that sits on the hardware by forcing their specifications and APIs on the industry.”
VMware said Microsoft was not acting in the best interests of its customers by attempting to force an integrated virtual hardware/OS/application stack on them.
“Customers require an “any to any” interoperability model where Microsoft application stacks can run freely with licensing, open APIs, and support equivalence on non-Microsoft virtual hardware to Microsoft’s own virtualization technologies,” the paper said.
The paper outlines seven specific examples of Microsoft’s unacceptable market behavior.
“Microsoft needs to fundamentally accommodate market choice and interoperability,” the paper concludes.
“Customers require freedom of choice to implement both Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications running on Windows with any chosen system virtualization layer. Customers do not benefit from being forced into a homogenous virtualization/OS/application stack.”
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