It may have finally dawned on Microsoft that its current software licensing restrictions kill one of the major benefits of virtualization — the ability to move a virtual machine freely about physical servers.

According to InfoWorld,, Microsoft may change its licensing policy from one where virtual machines are tied to hardware only to a model that complements the mobility of virtual machines. And a Microsoft spokesman reportedly said to expect the change as early as next Tuesday.

This policy has drawn its fair share of critics, including whitepaper grieving from VMware, which sells VMotion to shift its virtual machines around without downtime. Citrix also sells a similar solution with XenMotion.

Clearly, now that Microsoft is in the virtualization game itself, it needs to rethink the licensing model a bit. Microsoft currently lacks management software of its own for VM transfer magic — but says it's working on it.

Late to the party as usual, but if the report is true, it's a good sign progress is being made. ®

Related stories

• HP launches virtualization armada (3 September 2008)
• VMware R&D chief goes home again (2 September 2008)
• Analysis Dollar surge helps software vendors soak customers (18 August 2008)
• Citrix gets around to XenServer update (12 February 2008)
• Microsoft surprises itself with six-month late Hyper-V beta (14 December 2007)
• VMware makes storage fluid (8 October 2007)
• Analysis Microsoft counters VMware insanity with optimistic frown (19 September 2007)
• VMware wallops Microsoft with white paper (26 February 2007)
• VMware goes way beyond the VM (5 June 2006)