Microsoft doesn’t want you to use VMWare for virtualization of your information technology environment. At least, that is the message they are sending to the company I work for. For the last two years, when we’ve called for support, Microsoft’s Indian technicians seem confused and offer us conflicting information, wasting a great deal of time and causing us boundless frustration.

Today, we tried to call about a problem with DFS (distributed file system) - unfortunately the Microsoft technician noticed that the machine with a corrupt volume is virtualized and immediately went into a song and dance about it being VMWare and not being able to support the issue. Bear in mind that we had just dropped $500+ on the call. But Microsoft, in all its wisdom, has a policy that is more important that continuing to earn my company’s business.

Except as described in this article, Microsoft does not test or support Microsoft software running together with non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software. For Microsoft customers who do not have a Premier-level support agreement, Microsoft will require that the issue to be reproduced independently from the non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software. Where the issue is confirmed to be unrelated to the non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software, Microsoft will support its software in a manner that is consistent with support provided when that software is not running together with non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software.

Two hours later, we’re still arguing with Microsoft about why they won’t support us. From my perspective, the company doesn’t want people using VMWare because they offer a competitive product (which I’m not interested in). Practically speaking, when Microsoft pretends that problems are caused by using VMWare when they are not, they are doing themselves a great disservice - offering me an incentive to spend time searching for alternative solutions to Microsoft’s entire line of products. Arrogance in customer service policy making never benefits the company making the policies.

Microsoft’s technicians did a very poor job of explaining the policy. We were put on hold multiple times without explanation. We were transferred multiple times and hung up on once. If this is the best Microsoft can do, they are doomed. Moving forward, I’ll be looking for ways to avoid doing business with the company. I’ve been a beta tester and long time supporter, but increasingly, Microsoft is out of touch with the people who keep it solvent. The company has become too bloated with bureaucracy to stay effective. Time for some spin offs.

VMWare’s virtualization product is better and more mature than Microsoft’s offering. And that is why we’ll continue to use it despite Microsoft’s attempts to strongarm us in a different direction.

Related information:

http://www.vmware.com/support/policies/ms_support_statement.html

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897615

One of the hot new terms in information technology is cloud computing. According to some of the writers and pundits who cover developments in infotech, many IT departments could soon be replaced by cloud computing providers. That would be OK with me but I’m dubious as to how quickly the change could take place.

There are any number of factors that have to be taken into account. Any organization that is considering cloud computing models has to feel a sense of assurance that the scalability and speed come with stability and appropriate security. Most important, some companies, the ones with a culture of control, will never adopt cloud computing. At least, they will never adopt it unless they control the entire cloud.

Just as SaaS (sofware as a service) required ceding critical data control to a third party vendor, cloud computing requires giving up that central authority. The CEO cannot call his CIO in the middle of the night, rousting an IT staff whose jobs depend on fixing any problem (real or perceived) when the data is in someone else’s cloud. The leverage just isn’t the same when you are not the ONLY customer and the source of bread and butter for everyone in your IT chain of command.

If I am ever replaced by a cloud I look forward to the opportunity to take some much needed vacation time. Since I work for a conservative firm that values control more than it values scalability, I am watching the progress of this new idea with interest devoid of any alarm.

If you are the CIO of a modern, risk taking, early adopting kind of company then you might benefit from the scalability, improved deployment times and simpler management of systems offered by clouds. On the other hand, you could just migrate your existing infrastructure to VMWare and keep control. That’s what we’ve done.