Is It an Operating System?

 

In the interview, Maritz said there was some debate about whether to call this new initiative an operating system, since it looked as though VMware was pushing Microsoft and the Linux operating systems out of their traditional role in the data center. However, after talking to customers, Maritz and his team felt the term "operating system" was appropriate for what they had created.

In addition to creating this new data center platform and its competition with Microsoft, Maritz said VMware is working more closely with Linux providers, such as Red Hat and Novell, and VMware announced that the VCenter-formally VirtualCenter-management console will now run on Linux.

On the open-source front, Maritz said VMware has considered bringing its ESX Server hypervisor to open source. While that has not happened, it remains a possibility.

"It [open-sourcing ESX] is something we have thought about, and it's something we don't shut the door on it," said Maritz, adding that VMware does not have any plans to support open-source hypervisors such as Xen.

Finally, Maritz addressed the relationship between VMware and its parent company, EMC. Before heading up VMware, Maritz oversaw EMC's cloud computing division, and some speculated that his appointment as VMware CEO could mean that the company and its products would be drawn closer into the EMC portfolio.

However, Maritz said VMware will remain independent of EMC.

"The bottom line is that I don't see any major change there," said Maritz. "EMC fully appreciates that VMware needs to have a large degree of independence. I don't see that changing, and when I look at the challenges out there, this is not one of the big ones."