Windows 7 virtualization licensing change rumored
January 6th, 2009 | 
Author: With the expected release of Windows 7 later this year, there is already speculation and rumor that perhaps Microsoft will loosen it’s virtualization licensing policies once again. A much needed move for modern virtual infrastructure in my opinion, Microsoft may finally be abandoning their position that their operating systems must be anchored to physical hardware. I hesitate to truly get excited about this change until it is officially announced, but could this finally be the green light to license VMs individually and independently of the virtualization host’s operating system and hardware? Could it finally be the acceptance of unlimited live migration (VMotion)?
I’ll reference 2 sources for these rumors. The first is
Ed Bott’s ZDNet.com blog post Surprises in the Windows 7 license agreement. Read Ed’s post for several other points he discusses about the new EULA, but he says this about virtualization:
- It’s OK to install in a virtual machine. The license agreement for the original release of Windows Vista includes some truly opaque wording about installing in a virtualized environment. This wording was significantly cleaned up for the Vista SP1 license agreement, and this same language appears in the Windows 7 EULA. The “Use with Virtualization Technologies” section is straightforward:
Instead of using the software directly on the licensed device, you may install and use the software within only one virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system on the licensed device..
The reference to “installing the software directly on the licensed device” does not sound like much has changed, however. I found out about Ed’s post from David Marshall’s comments in host VMBLog post Will Microsoft Windows 7 have Virtualization Friendly Licensing?
Second is Mike Dipetrillo’s post Microsoft Lies to Their Customers – Again. Although the topic of Mike’s post was not about new Microsoft virtualization licensing, the comments reveal some interesting changes may be coming. Through a discussion about false sales rep claims that it is more expensive to license VMs on VMware hosts versus Hyper-V hosts, Microsoft Technet blogger Mark McSpirit comments about possible future changes to the current VECD licensing.
“I think sometimes Microsoft finds itself between a rock and a hard place with licensing and updating models – you have to make changes to embrace new and upcoming technologies, but at the same time, not tread on the toes of customers who’ve embraced (either through choice, or not) the licenses already. Like I said though, changes are afoot for VECD.”
In the end, we will all just have to wait and see what changes to Microsoft’s current licensing will be made, if any.
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