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Microsoft releases VHD Format Specifications For Free

Thursday, 19 October 2006 by Michel Roth

Microsoft today announced at the Interoperability Summit in Brussels that its virtualization format technology will now be available under its Open Specification Promise (OSP), an irrevocable promise from Microsoft to every individual and organization in the world to make use of this patented technology for free, now and forever when implementing specified open standards. Microsoft first announced the availability of an OSP for Web services specifications in September 2006 and now is expanding its customer-focused commitment to interoperability by applying the OSP to Microsoft’s Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) Image Format specification.

Virtualization allows IT professionals to pool resources; for example, one computer can run many operating systems and applications at the same time. The result is that organizations can better manage complexity, increase agility and reduce costs. Many IT professionals believe virtualization will be among the most important technology advancements in the next few years. Microsoft’s VHD format, which has been available since May 2005, captures the entire virtual machine operating system and the application stack in a single file. With the VHD format as a freely available specification, Microsoft is contributing to the continued expansion of the virtualization market by fostering interoperability among all commercial software solutions, including open source.

Read the full press release here and read more at virtualization.info.