Quick update on a news item you may have already heard about. Remember those VMware product/component decoder rings you might have started working on after the VMworld 2008 announcements? It’s time for an update. VMware announced a handful of product name changes on Monday:
- VMware VirtualCenter is now VMware vCenter Server
- VMware vCenter is the family name for all management products
- VMware Lab Manager is now VMware vCenter Lab Manager (since it is in the management products family)
- The VMware vCenter prefix applies to the other products in the management products family as well
- VMware View is the family name for all VDI/VDM products
- VMware VDI is now VMware View
- VMware VDM is now VMware View Manager
I’m not real fond of name changes unless there is a good reason behind it. I’ll give VMware the benefit of the doubt that there was good reason to make these changes, although not knowing myself 100% what is up VMware’s sleeve, the timing is somewhat debatable. Couldn’t they have waited until the next generation of Virtual Infrastructure to align the products and components? Citrix did this with Presentation Server when they instantly re-branded it to XenApp. It confused a lot of people, especially the newcomers. I hope confusion among VMware customers is minimized. It’s going to take a little while for these new names to become second nature for me.
What do you think of the name changes? Feedback is always welcomed here.
Pretty risky maneuver, changing the names now. I don’t know anyone who has seriously stopped calling Virtual Center “Virtual Center.”
I’m not a big fan of name changes but I guess there are worse things in the world.
Karen, I’d consider it a personal favor if you guys at Tripwire take good care of Steve. 🙂