Microsoft announced a new set of rules on its virtualization software, loosening the licensing restrictions which will certainly prove to be a win-win scenario. The companies will find it easier to move virtual machines from one physical machine to another and the technology’s adoption rate should be significantly boosted.  

"Businesses are taking steps to make their IT operations more dynamic and are delving into virtualization as a cornerstone strategy," said Zane Adam, Microsoft's senior director for integrated virtualization, in a recent statement. He also added that Microsoft understands the trend and by innovating its licensing policy, its product support and its IT solutions the company wants to get people to get virtual now.

The change will take full effect on September 1 and the company will also provide support for certain businesses running their software on rival platforms such as Citrix, Novell and VMware.

Up until now, these transfers were possible once every 90 days, but the new rules will enable users to transfer their virtual servers between machines as often as considered, without any additional licensing fees.

"Virtualisation is moving out of the early adoption stage, and into the stage when implementation will take off," said Neil Sanderson, product manager for virtualisation and management at Microsoft, as quoted by PC Pro.

The plan involves 41 server titles, including Office SharePoint Server 2007, the standard and enterprise versions of Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Standard and Enterprise editions, the enterprise version of SQL Server 2008 and also Dynamics CRM 4.0.