The more things change, the more they stay the same. That is certainly true of anti-open source virtualization FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). Linux virtualization is robust and enterprise-worthy, and is evolving rapidly. It is a threat to the established giants of virtualization.

And, so the same old FUD is spread around: Open source virtualization software is free, like a free puppy. It's unpolished and lacking important features. It's communists and hippies. It is only for elite hackers who can code in a dozen languages and who love the command line. Linux virtualization admins are expensive and scarce. Licenses are complex, scary, and viral, and will infect all of your code and force you to give it away.

It's all nonsense, and tired recycled nonsense at that. Companies who boast of their innovation should innovate better FUD. Open source virtualization has been around for a long time, it's tested, and the whole open source stack is rock-solid.

One of the most persistent myths is that open source virtualization requires elite scripting skills. This is very much not true, for example ConVirt offers a complete, polished product with a sophisticated graphical management interface. This supports batch operations, automation, monitoring, migrations, storage management, network management-- it should meet the needs of 99% of admins who will never need to touch the command line.

Open source virtualization goes hand-in-hand with open standards and freedom from vendor lock-in. Data portability is everything - when you can easily move your data then you have real leverage, and vendors have to compete for your business. Commoditized virtualization is still young, and it will take several years for standards to be agreed on and established. As an open source company, Convirture puts customers and solving their problems first, and so we are members of the OpenStack Initiative, which is a global collaboration of over 130 businesses developing an open source cloud computing platform. The speed of iteration in open source is many times faster than closed-source proprietary software, so fixes and improvements are rolled out rapidly. Whatever the future brings, we won't be invested in protecting a software product, but will be able to adapt quickly and meet our customers' needs.