Microsoft to provide Virtual Server 2005 R2 for free
I suppose this is following on the footsteps of VMWare, who earlier this year announced a free version of VMWare Server (albeit currently Beta), available to anyone who registered.

Microsoft has announced, of all places, at LinuxWorld, that they will provide Virtual Server 2005 R2 (I didn't see whether it was only Standard or also Enterprise)for free. In addition, they will provide more support for running Linux as a guest by providing virtual server additions for several mainstream linux distros.

It seems as if it's a virtual battle out there between Microsoft an VMWare. I haven't tried VMWare's product yet (it's time bombed, which I don't like), but I've used Virtual Server quite a bit, and it works very well. Along with the Virtual Server Migration Toolpack, which helps migrate machines from both "phsyical-to-virtual" and "virtual-to-virtual", this announcement is great news for IT professionals.

To read the entire press release, click the link in the title, or here:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2006/apr06/04-03virtualizationqa.mspx
- posted by Ben Winzenz @ 3:56 PM