I forget who said it, but EMC would do well to remember that Microsoft sees the world as consisting of two kinds of people: Customers and Competitors. Customers buy. Competitors die.

And if you aren't the one, you must be the other.

I keep hearing people talking about how MS will use "embrace and extend" to kill off VMware just like it has done with so many companies. The thing is that for every company you list that MS has killed off I can list one that they haven't.

Look at Windows Mobile. Not winning there. Look at Search. Not winning there. Look at One Care which was supposed to kill off McAfee and Symantec. Not winning there. Look at Microsoft Money versus Quicken. Not winning there. The list goes on and on and on. Just remember that MS doesn't win all the time. It takes creating something that actually works and people actually want to use.

- Mike DiPetrillo

NOTE: I work for VMware but the opinions here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.