Although people have been saying it's an exciting event and indicating their commitment to VMWare, no one has been able to point to anything yet that much distinguishes what is being presented there from what Microsoft is also promising. I am sure that people at a VMWare conference are largely committed to that product, just as most of those at the Microsoft event were no doubt eager to use Microsoft solutions. But as people keep reminding us, only **12% of servers today are being virtualized, even though **83% of businesses indicate they are using virtualization in some respect. This means a lot of people are dipping their toes in the water, but not many are swimming yet. And it is those fence-sitters that VMWare needs to be going after, hard. The metrics of the market are against them... most shops are largely Microsoft shops, and the Microsoft solution is the easier sell for them. VMWare has traditionally been first out of the gate, and continues to field a more robust offering that Microsoft with respect to virtualization infrastructure, but that state of affairs is changing rapidly. Microsoft, I believe, understands this aspect as a cornerstone of the future of corporate computing, and they are using aggressive pricing, product integration, and good old fashioned marketing tricks to get ahead. If VMWare wants to hold its lead, it's going to have to do more than preach to the converted... they need to light a fire such as will draw in many of the heretics as well.