Confessions of a Virtualization-aholic - #3

By Aaron Sweemer
published: Wednesday, December 23 2009

The Veeam party is in full swing and the place is packed like sardines. I try to make my way to the bar to order a drink, but I’m not having much luck and I start to get frustrated. But I diligently push forward, bobbing and weaving through the crowd, determined to wet my palate with the authentic Russian vodka rumored to be on hand, courtesy of Veeam President Ratmir Timashev.

En route, I hear the ranting of a madman … “Hyper-V! Hyper-V! Hyper-V!” The voice sounds oddly familiar. It reminds me of a viral video I once saw of a raving mad Steve Ballmer. But Steve wouldn’t be here. Would he? The chanting gets louder … “Hyper-V! Hyper-V! Hyper-V!” Okay, now I’m really curious, I’ve got to see what’s going on. So I make a slight detour on my way to the bar, seeking out the source of the commotion. I break through a large group huddled around a man carrying on like a buffoon, covered in sweat and screaming “Hyper-V! Hyper-V! Hyper-V!” Holy crap! It really is Steve Ballmer! Everyone watching, myself included, has a deer-in-the-headlights look, clearly not sure what to make of the whole thing. But I see one guy with somewhat of a different look on his face. He is starry eyed and mesmerized. He’s hanging on Steve’s every word and every move. Who is that guy? Wait. Oh, my gosh! That’s Simon Crosby! Well, that explains everything.

Anyway, I start to lose interest and look for an exit strategy. I see a break in the crowd and I make my move, doing my best to go unnoticed. No such luck. Steve sees me leaving and, fearing I wouldn’t be the last, he steps it up a notch. He’s jumping wildly now. Sweat is pouring off him and we’re all trying to dodge the shrapnel flying through air. I narrowly escape, but others aren’t so lucky. As I leave the scene behind me, I hear someone scream “My eye! My eye! It burns like fire!!” Poor girl didn’t stand a chance.

Now I really need a drink, so I’m back to my original mission and getting closer to the bar. Suddenly I notice the smell of roses and while searching for the source of this out-of-place aroma I notice an opening in the mob. Is that who I think it is? Could it be? Is it she? It is! Oh, happy day! It’s Susan Gudenkauf, VCP numero uno. Wherever she moves, like Moses parting the Red Sea, the mass of techno geeks step aside. I actually think she’s walking on water. Well, it could be a puddle of vodka. It’s hard to tell in the dark bar. But still, it’s pretty darn impressive! Uh, oh. She’s walking this way. What should I say? How’s my hair? Oh wait, I shave my head. Is it too shiny?

“Hi, Aaron,” she says.

OMG, she knows my name! Be cool. Just be cool. I respond.

"Hey.”

“I’d like to introduce you to my friend Doug,” she says.

What?! That’s it! I’m taking this stupid friggin’ purple shirt, setting it on fire, and throwing it in the dump! Okay, time to set things straight (no pun intended)….

"Um, I’m flattered, but, um, I’m married. To a woman. To an amazing, funny, beautiful woman.” I really hate to be blunt or rude, but I feel I need to make myself clear on this point.

Susan replies, “Yeeaaahhhh, how nice for you. I just thought you’d like to meet Doug Hazelman, the Director of Global Systems Engineering at Veeam. You probably know him as VMDoug on Twitter.”

Oh, crap. My heart sinks. That was bad on so many levels. Okay, no big deal, backpeddle backpeddle backpeddle. “Uh, I mean, uh.” Cough. Cough. “You see. Um.” Cough.

I finally just give in, “I don’t know how to recover from that.”

They laugh. Granted it’s at my expense, but I deserve it. And it turns out to be a good ice breaker. After some small talk, Susan changes the subject and asks me “What do you think about the SpringSource acquisition?”

I think SpringSource was a necessary and brilliant move by VMware.”

“You think so? Most people are scratching their heads about it. Why do you think it’s a necessary and brilliant move?”

Shoot, I could talk for hours about this subject, but I don’t want to bore Susan and Doug. I hesitate for a minute as I try to gather my thoughts. The silence is becoming awkward. Hurry up and answer, dummy! You look stupid! I need a distraction. Where’s Steve when you need him?! No matter, I’m finally ready.

"Well, let me begin to answer your question this way … the Operating System is becoming a very uninteresting place to live. And this is happening for two big reasons; virtualization on the lower end of the OS, and third generation application frameworks on the upper end of the OS. Now, regarding the lower end of the OS, it’s a widely accepted fact that VMware is the very best at decoupling the OS from the underlying physical infrastructure as vSphere has unmatched levels mobility, availability, scalability, and manageability. And from the lower end, we see the commoditization of the traditional OS well underway, and we see this manifesting itself in all sorts of interesting ways. I think the most notable example would be the JeOS, often called the ‘juice’ OS, and stands for Just Enough Operating System. People are making VMs with just enough OS inside to run their applications and stripping out everything else. But ultimately vSphere, in its current form, presents another OS to the end user, regardless of how big or small that OS footprint actually is.

“Similarly, the upper end of the Operating System – the part that really matters because it’s where the applications live – is also becoming irrelevant. The reason? By and large, developers no longer really write applications for a particular Operating System anymore. Rather, they write applications for an application framework. These application frameworks decouple the application from the underlying OS in much the same way that vSphere decouples the OS from the underlying infrastructure. Now, there are a lot of languages and application frameworks out there, but it’s generally accepted that a serious, career developer will align themselves with either .NET or Java. Not that it’s an either/or decision. In fact, most good developers are capable to work within either world. But generally speaking, developers – and the companies that employ them – will be more aligned with one over the other. And when deciding which path to take, the decision usually hinges on one of the fundamental differences between the two…which is this: .NET compromises technical flexibility in exchange for greater developer productivity and Java compromises developer productivity in exchange for technical flexibility … to grossly oversimplify the matter. Just do a Google search for ‘.NET vs. Java’ and you’ll find all sorts of discussion on the subject.”

“So where does SpringSource fit in all of this?” asks Susan.

“SpringSource brings with it, among other things, a number of Java frameworks, bringing VMware up to the upper end of the Operating System. But more importantly, unlike the traditional Java framework, J2EE, the SpringSource frameworks were purposefully built to enhance developer productivity while maintaining technical flexibility. So, not only does VMware get to move up the stack, but they do it offering a solution that doesn’t force a choice between productivity and flexibility. It also doesn’t force a choice between external cloud over internal cloud when deploying applications. Developers can simply take their code and publish it externally, or within the walls of their enterprise, all without the need to recompile or port their code.”

Susan begins to respond with her own wisdom and unique perspective on SpringSource. It’s amazing to watch, like Gandhi or Jesus, the growing crowd hangs on every word. How does she...

Megan Fox! I KNOW I just saw her walking past the outside window of the bar. On a dime, I spin and shove my way through the crowd to the front door. I run into the street, then into the alley around the corner, then to the alley across the street. Where could she have disappeared to so quickly? Oh, well. Back to the bar. Which reminds me...did I just ditch Susan mid-conversation? Crap. Back to the hotel.

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Confessions of a Virtualization-aholic

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