Virtualization is much more than simply consolidating physical servers and cutting data center costs. At Microsoft, virtualization means helping IT departments maximize ROI and cost savings across the enterprise, and powerfully improving business continuity. That's why we created a portfolio of products that address all aspects of the physical and virtual infrastructure—servers, networks, applications, and desktops—across multiple hypervisors, and that can be easily managed through a centralized console.
In an effort to get its virtualization software known and munchin' on VMware's hegemony, Microsoft has announced that it will drop the $28 price tag planned for Hyper-V Server 2008 and offer it for free. Expected to become available for download within the next 30 days, the free Hyper-V will work with the 32 and 64bit version of Windows XP Professional, Vista, Server 2003, Server 2008 and Linux Enterprise Server 10 and will receive full support from Microsoft.
For more info about Microsoft's virtualization offer check out this page.
http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization/default.mspx
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