VMware and Xen will be delighted. Microsoft is putting its Viridian Longhorn virtualization widgetry through the same slimming exercise that Vista went through to get it out the door. It's not going to have the 64-processor support that pushed its release from the first half to the second or the ability to add processors, memory, disks and networking on-the-fly or live migration. Its general manager Mike Neil remarked that "Shipping is a feature, too."

Microsofts David Greshchler To Keynote Virtualization Conference & Expo
David Greschler is the director of virtualization strategy, System Center division at Microsoft Corp. Greschler is a director of System Center marketing, and is focused on virtualization management tools for the desktop and datacenter. Greschler came to Microsoft with the July 2006 acquisition of Softricity. Prior to joining Microsoft, Greschler was co-Founder of Softricity, developers of SoftGrid and the originator and leading vendor of the application virtualization industry. With more than 20 years of pioneering experience in the computer field, Greschler has held various positions at the MIT Media Lab and The Computer Museum, and holds numerous virtualization patents.

• Microsoft's Virtualization Chief Announces Viridian and Virtual Server Delays