Microsoft gives glimpse at future of software distribution with virtualization test program

Microsoft Monday unveiled the future of software distribution with the introduction of a virtual product evaluation program that lets users easily test server applications within a virtualized environment.

The VHD Test Drive Program, named for Microsoft’s Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format, will provide users with free preconfigured .VHD files that can be dropped onto any virtual machine that supports the .VHD format such as Microsoft’s Virtual Server 2005, which also is free.

Users won’t need dedicated servers or to manually configuration the server software to get up and going, according to Microsoft officials. The company also is allowing ISVs to distribute their evaluation software in the same virtualized manner.

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Microsoft Monday unveiled the future of software distribution with the introduction of a virtual product evaluation program that lets users easily test server applications within a virtualized environment.

The VHD Test Drive Program, named for Microsoft’s Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format, will provide users with free preconfigured .VHD files that can be dropped onto any virtual machine that supports the .VHD format such as Microsoft’s Virtual Server 2005, which also is free.

Users won’t need dedicated servers or to manually configuration the server software to get up and going, according to Microsoft officials. The company also is allowing ISVs to distribute their evaluation software in the same virtualized manner.

The .VHD files provide users with evaluation copies of server software running on Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition. The first .VHD files, which are available now, provide evaluation copies of SQL Server 2005, Live Communications Server 2005, Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006 and Exchange 2007 (the 32-bit test version).

Microsoft also will provide Vista evaluation within a virtual machine in the first quarter of 2007.

While the program is designed to provide convenience for corporate software evaluation, it also hints at future commercial software distribution methods as virtual machine technology becomes more pervasive in corporate networks.

“The vision and roadmap is to drive down the path of being able to provide software that can migrate from the evaluation environment into the production environment for use in a commercial sense,” says Mike Neil, senior director of Microsoft’s virtualization strategy. “So today we are announcing the first step in looking at this as the test drive and the mechanism to be able to deal with evaluation software.”

The .VHD files from Microsoft will time out after 30 days for those who download the files from the Microsoft Web site.

Those with MSDN subscriptions can use the evaluation software indefinitely as long as their subscription is up to date. For TechNet subscribers, the .VHD files will be active for 500 days.

“Once you have these files copied into your virtual machine, instead of having to go and find hardware and install an OS and then install the product, you are up and running in a matter of minutes,” says Peter Pawlak, an analyst with independent research firm Directions on Microsoft. “They are trying to get people to play with products and eliminate some of the logistical and costs problems that prevent them from doing that. But this also is the first step into a new way of delivering software.”

The program also allows ISVs to develop their own .VHD files configured with their software and make those files available for evaluation.

Microsoft has signed up 20 of its 7,000 ISVs to participate in the program including, Altiris, BEA, Check Point, Citrix, CommVault, Dell, FullArmor, HP, Network Appliance, PlateSpin, Portlock, Quest Software, SourceCode Technology Holdings, Symantec and UGS.