Microsoft announced yesterday that they are basically matching VMware's free ESXi download with a free slimmed down version of Hyper-V to also be a free download. Previously both companies had charged money for this virtualization software, but will now make them available for free. VMware announced on July 28th 2008 that ESXi would be available as a free download and Microsoft announced on September 8th 2008 that they would have a slimmed down version of Hyper-V available as a free download. The two products are not exactly the same - there are feature differences between the two but I think it is fair to say that they are comparable in most respects.

This is actually almost an exact replay of history from about two years ago.

On Februrary 6th, 2006 VMware announced that the product previously known as GSX server would now be called VMware Server and would be available as a free download. About two months later on April 3rd, 2006, Microsoft announced that Virtual Server 2005 was becoming a no-charge download. Again these products previously cost money and were not the exactly the same feature for feature, but they were comparable.

Have fun reading through the old press releases and comparing them to the recent ones from the last month.

Todd