Well I have already hit my first problem with SharePoint 2010. What I am hearing is that the VM can only run in 8 GB RAM as a minimum. I am hoping that this is NOT the case, and that a 64 bit VM on a single box that can run with 2 GB of RAM is possible. If not I see no way to really evaluate and test the server in anger.
I am planning on getting a 64 bit Linux server next year and installing VirtualBox from Sun. For those of you who don't know yet VirtualBox is a Open Source Virtual Platform. Virtualis such a standard thing in my opinion and I think Sun has a real excellent product here for creating VMs.
But I have yet to test 64 bit, I am hoping in the coming year I can establish a 64 bit Linux host with VMs of both x86 and 64 bit. Kind of a strange monster to have sitting on your desktop but I think Microsoft has made it necessary. I am simply not going to buy a 64 Windows 7 machines an install Hyper-V.
Hyper-V is sort of the ugly twin of SharePoint, and the two live in a kind of strange drama. Just as SharePoint has been raised to glory Hyper-V has become kind of a joke.
But the pont I think I am trying to make is that people simply won't use SharePoint 2010 if they have to go through all this just to provide dev boxes on virtual machines. I fear Microsoft has another XP vs. Vista or 2003 vs. 2008 here, with client electing to stay on established software.
Microsoft innovation model breaks down at a certain point where products become so mature people have no interest in the new. I think this may have happen with the OS and Office stack. Frankly I can't imagine more I want out of Windows than XP, I certainly don't want Vista. And as for Office, I have tried the Office 2007 at great length since its beta in 2006 and though I like it I don't need it and its terrible bloat ware. I find myself more and more using Open Office.
Yes I am a SharePoint consultant, but I do call them as I see them. I fear Microsoft has lost the plot before the play even began. And in this industry decisions about the fate of platforms are made in weeks. SharePoint 2010, if Microsoft does not work to make it access able and promote the clear advantages, could go the way of Vista.
