Note to Dell, give more people exposure

I don't know about anybody else, but I was disappointed with Michael Dell's participation at VMware's vSphere's product launch.  Michael is a smart guy and immensely likable, but variety is a really good thing.  So is showing more technical prowess.

I would have preferred hearing from somebody who could speak with more details about new vSphere functionality, manageability and performance and how Dell products are going to reflect those changes. It just came across as a live advertisement for Dell, as opposed to exploring vSphere and exposing it's goodies.  Too much Dell, not enough vSphere. 

Comments

[nate]

I'm excited about the new pricing myself, I don't have a real need for the true enterprise versions so today we use vmware foundation, and so we'll migrate to vSphere essentials.

Two years ago the equivalent of vSphere essentials(6 licenses of ESX 3.0 Standard and vCenter foundation assuming it existed back then) would run you over $10,000, with vSphere 4 that price is now $995. Today ESX 3.5 foundation for 2 licenses is $995, and support is required(at least for the first year). vSphere 4 essentials support is optional, and cost per 2-licenses is less than $330(being that essentials includes vCenter foundation), though total price is the same since you buy it in packs of 3. In my opinion it was worth the price 2 years ago so you can imagine how I feel about the price today!

You don't get vmware's thin provisioning with vSphere essentials, not that I need it, I have it in my T400.

I'm still hoping for better MPIO in vSphere 4, Chuck mentioned that EMC is launching a special MPIO product for vSphere 4 which looks interesting, wonder if others will follow *hint* *nudge*.

(Been using VMware myself since pre 1.0 back in the late '90s, still have my vmware 1.0.2 cd)

[I]

EMC PowerPath will require the enterprise + edition of vSphere