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For what I think will prove to be a cheap $500 million, XenSource has been picked up by Citrix Systems.
Citrix, for those of you who dont know, has made a living for ages by providing Windows desktops and applications to remote users—first with MetaFrame and now with Presentation Server.
So what, you ask? One of the truisms of the business is that nobody—and I mean nobody—partners with Microsoft and wins in the long run. There is, however, an exception to that rule: Citrix.
Any company that has managed for more than a decade not only to survive within Microsofts shadow but also to profit from it clearly knows how to run a business. Citrix also knows virtualization. Its new Application Virtualization Suite 3.0 is all about running virtualized applications in a way that makes it easy for both users and administrators.
So, here we are. On one side, you have Xen. You can argue that its not only the most well-known open-source virtualization program around, but technically the best. On the other side, you have a company that knows how to thrive while competing with that great white shark of software, Microsoft. Put them together, and you have both a great future for open-source virtualization and a company that can give VMware all the competition it can handle and more.
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