To the owner(s) of networkvirtualization.com:

Change the current method of publishing protected vmetc.com content to a more acceptable style of blog aggregation, contact me to arrange a syndication agreement, or take down any and all of my content from your site.

Based on Scott Lowe’s post I Love Having My Content Stolen and the consistent reaction in both Scott’s post comments and on Twitter, I assume it’s in your best interest to do the same for all the other bloggers whose content you have used.

What is acceptable? Here are some examples.

Blog Aggregation

Take a look at Planet v12n or VirtualizationFeed.com. In summary, publish only a preview of the post, provide the proper attribution to the creator, and make sure the link is obvious and goes back to the original site and not the RSS feed. Both also maintain a blog roll of the aggregated sites.

Blog Syndication

Use Gestaltit.com for an example. As a syndicated author, I allow specific posts to be republished there via an arranged agreement. Each author’s personal blog is linked and each has their own individual Gestaltit.com RSS feed as well.

Quotes and References

Feel free quote or reference published content to make your own point. Be sure to make the quote/reference identifiable and give proper credit to the originator.

Let me clarify

I am flattered that you enjoy my content and I welcome the additional exposure. I get a great sense of satisfaction from the public use of vmetc.com. I’m not saying, nor does my Creative Commons license state, the vmetc.com RSS feed cannot be used. It is simply a matter of proper format and due recognition.

Even though my posts are available in full in my RSS feed, I suggest using a news reader such as Google Reader or social media such as Facebook and Friendfeed to access my content, as well as aggregating any other blogs, from the convenience of a web browser on any computer.

Normally I use Tweetdeck for following my friends and collecting replies and direct messages, but I’ve found that Tweetgrid is a better alternative for watching an event where there are thousands of tweets from strangers I want to catch. I tested Tweetgrid out last weekend while watching the Daytona 500, and I was pleasantly surprised at the feeling of virtual participation. I think the ultimate event watching feature for me is that Twitpic images show up in the Tweetgrid columns too.

Haven’t joined Twitter yet? Don’t worry you can still use Tweetgrid even if you don’t have a Twitter account.

Give my VMworld Europe 2009 Tweetdeck a try and see what I mean. There is already a lot of chatter to tune into!

For this strategy to really work well for those of us who can’t go, we need the conference attendees to tweet as much as possible. So, if you are going please load your phones and notebooks with the Twitter client of your choice and start micro blogging! Try to include “vmworld” as a keyword or hashtag in your tweets so we can follow you.

Here’s some extra tips for using Tweetgrid to watch VMworld Europe 2009:

Bookmark and start with my VMworld Tweetgrid to catch all tweets with VMworld and Cannes as well as Twitpics with the same keywords.

Add extra columns to the grid for new searches when news breaks or a hot topic flares up. You can add vertical columns or a second row. Tweetgrid has preset formats from the drop box.

If you have a Twitter account already use the settings in one of the extra columns for your Friends timeline.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions for using Tweetgrid or if there is another tool you will be counting on!

This post is syndicated and originally appeared at VMwareUnderground.com titled

This news now makes XenServer 5 the second no cost virtualization platform with live migration abilities. Microsoft announced their free Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Beta will also include their Live Migration feature back in mid January.

Another interesting detail of this expected announcement is that Microsoft’s SCVMM will now be able to manage XenServer 5, and Citrix will introduce Citrix Essentials with capabilities to manage Hyper-V. This cross management collaboration will make for some very interesting multi vendor virtual datacenter possibilities.

Here’s some more info from the practical-tech.com post about Citrix Essentials:

“This new line, Citrix Essentials for XenServer and Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V, will make running multiple virtualization systems and machines much easier. Among other features, Citrix claims that it will automate the VM (virtual machine) lifecycle to simplify and streamline workload creation and delivery. It will also make virtualization more scalable by provisioning virtual and physical servers from single, master images to lower costs and reduce VM sprawl and more agile by simplifying storage set-up, configuration and operations in the virtualized data-center. For these programs, Citrix will charge from $1,500 to $5,000 per server.”

With lifecycle management features for both Microsoft and Citrix VMs, both companies appear to be closing the gap that VMware has had to date in virtual infrastructure automation. Vaughn-Nicols also indicates that other virtualization competition may be joining Citrix and Microsoft with this new management suite as well:

“It’s also expected that at least one of the two major Linux companies, Novell or Red Hat, will announce their support for the new XenServer and Citrix Essentials for XenServer. It is not known, however, which of the companies will be making this jump.”

Of course, I’m guessing VMware will have some pretty interesting announcements to make themselves next week. Stay tuned to the VMwareUnderground!

It’s hard to believe VMworld Europe is a couple of weeks away. It seems we were all in Las Vegas for VMword 2008 just a short while ago. I’m glad to see the VMworld Underground getting started back up again, and I look forward to the podcasts. Great idea Sean!

Over at vmetc.com I have created a VMworld Page that is collecting blog posts with “vmworldeurope2009″ as a tag, collecting tweets with “vmworld”, and running some Google web gadets that display local information about Cannes, France.

I’ll probably tweek the page a little more between now and when VMworld Europe starts, but I’m counting on that page along with content from VMworld Underground to help me stay informed on what goes on in France. With several people revealing they have recieved flip camerasfrom VMware this week I need to add feeds from youtube, flickr, picasa, and other media sites as well.

Check out the VM /ETC VMworld Page and let me know if you have any other ideas of what else I could add to it to make it better.