What if Microsoft decided to get really serious about server virtualization? Yeah, yeah, I know Hyper-V is coming this summer. But especially now that they've made such a hash of Vista, virtualization's a natural place for the company to regain a bit of momentum and stature, at least in the data center.

The prevailing wisdom is that Redmond's dragging its heels on virtualization so as not to needlessly cut the flow of Windows server licensing and service fees. Still, you've got to wonder how long VMware's dominance in this sector will go unchecked, especially since this blogger says Hyper-V will outperform VMware's ESX where Microsoft apps are concerned.

This explains a bit the churlishness on Microsoft's part where VMware support is concerned. More than one enterprise customer has complained about Microsoft's indifference (or reliance on end-user licensing boilerplate) for not supporting VMware on its servers or apps. They've struck deals with nearly all the smaller virtualization vendors. I guess there's no need to hand your major competitor the keys to your customers' servers.

That's why I'd love to see Microsoft actually do something really stellar here. You know, something to put VMware on notice and stir the competitive spirits of both HP and Sun. But I'm not optimistic. Internal critics are ignored or overriden and there seems to be a lot of settling for less at Microsoft -- the cost, we're told, of being the world's most widely used software. Still, here's a chance for the company to do something cool, smart, and excellent. We'll know this summer how passionately they embraced this virtual opportunity.