
Microsoft has a big surprise planned for not just those of its own customers using virtualization, but for those in the open-source community as well. The Redmond software giant announced at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo that it is making its Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition product <A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1945069,00.asp?kc=ewnws040306dtx1k0000599">available as a free download</A> from the Microsoft Web site. Until now, Microsoft has sold the software, which was released in December 2005, at a suggested retail price of $199. The Standard Edition, which used to cost $99, is being dropped and will no longer be available.