Wow!!!! A representative from PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) just walked out on stage during the general session at VMWorld 2006
to announce a program where PG&E customers will see a 300 to 600
dollar energy credit for every physical server they remove from their
compute environment by leveraging virtualization. This is truly
incredible! The implications of VMware
is now capturing the attention of the energy community, all I can say
is WOW!! Not only is virtualization a revolution own its own but VMware
is acting as a catalyst for the energy revolution. The purpose of the
program is to continue their charter of reducing global warming and our
dependence on oil. This is a revolution.
Of particular interest was the industry perspective panel discussion… They had
a spirited and enjoyable discussion over a range of topics around
virtualization. In particular, David Cheriton’s rant regarding
software quality was entertaining and yet very accurate. Why do we
settle for software that “usually works most of the time”? An
excellent question, if you ask me, and not one that can be easily
answered.
Patrick from Microsoft was not as impressed. I agree that the movie part of the demo came off a bit flat uncertain — they should have let the movie clip play out for a joke or two — but I think that Diane’s calling out of the Changing Role of the OS is important and paradigm-shifting. It might make some people uncomfortable, but change always does.
The hall was packed with 7,000 people, the stage and screens were large
and impressive. But Diane didn’t deliver any "ah-ha" thinking. The demo
was intended to show live-motion video being moved from one virtual
desktop to another without any video degredation. Unfortuneatly, the
demo was a little flat desite using one of the better scenes from
"Office Space." The people on the appliances panel agreed with each
other more than the Bush v Gore debates. They all agreed that
appliances are a great way to eval software, and eventually deploy
software.
