Microsoft to sell Windows in Vietnam - in installments!

It's nothing to do with virtualization, but it's something that I thought would make an interesting 1st post after a while away from my blog.
According to a news article that I saw today, Microsoft are to try and legally sell their product on the streets of Vietnam, where piracy is extremely high, and copies of Windows can be purchased for as little as about 50p in UK currency. One of their plans is to try and sell Windows in 'installments', in the hope that it will be come more affordable.
But in my opinion, 'Windows' and 'affordable' are two words which don't go together in any way that you could try. So why can't people in Vietnam, and for example, China, switch to using an operating system that is stable, free (as in speech), much faster than Windows, doesn't crash every 30 minutes and is durable enough to run a server farm, or just the PC on your desk, without needing to constantly reboot - for example Linux or BSD.
But I don't think anyone would buy a Microsoft product in installments, when Linux and other free software have much more desirable qualities. My 2 cents :)

The VMware Company Store is Open For Business

I first noticed that the store was open, about 9 am (GMT), although it may have been open some time before.
Some of the products in the store include the VMware Gift Card (available in increments of $25, $50 and $100), whilst it's not the Parasol, that I was after, they have a nice brolly. They also sell USB pen drives, various items of clothing, VMware pens (here & here).
See the full range at http://www.vmwarestore.com/

And if you spend $50 or more, you can get a free VMware Poster (whilst stocks last, of course)

Quick screenshot here:

VMware Server Beta 2 is Out

It's finally here, VMware Server Beta 2. Let's hope it fixes the problems that I've been facing with USB in the most recent build of Beta 1. Some of the new features include connection to and configuration of GSX Server 3 hosts, and a glimpse of the shiny new VMware Server C API.
I'll post progress on Beta 2 as I start the upgrade process.

NEXTSTEP 3.2 Installer Boots in VMware Server

I've also found that the NEXTSTEP 3.2 Installer boots in VMware Server, and gives a kernal panic whilst doing anything involving devices.

Get your NEXTSTEP disk images here.

As usual, there's a screenshot.

OPENSTEP 4.2 Installer Boots on VMware Server (Well, kind of)

I'd discovered something that I thought was quite interesting.
After exploring Apple's FTP site, I'd picked up a few disk images from the "upgrade" section.
If you create a new VM, give it just 16MB of RAM, take away the CD-ROM drive, and give the VM a NIC, you too can attempt to install the little piece of history that is OPENSTEP 4.2.
I've found that it works as far as the the attached screenshot, after messing with a load of disk images (all containing different sets of drivers).
I'm leaving a challenge open, so that anyone can report their success (and failure) with OPENSTEP. Get the disk images here.

The screenshot shows that there's some sort of GUI (if a little rudimentary one), in the installer.