Microsoft recently plastered this giant attack ad on a key Silicon Valley passageway — Northbound Highway 101 in Mountain View:

Fun fact: The billboard on the opposite side is running an Apple iTunes ad.
“VIRTUALIZATION ALONE DOES NOT A CLOUD SOLUTION MAKE.”
Catchy, yet sophisticated and original.
Your witty comeback could win you a cool vSphere book!
Got a pithy response to this new Microsoft cloud marketing line? Share it with the virtualization community by submitting a comment below for a chance to win a great prize.
The possibilities are endless. Keep it clean.
For instance, you might reply: “Yeah, I’d say the exact same thing if my virtualization was Hyper-V.”
A panel of distinguished judges I will subjectively select two winners to receive copies of Eric Siebert’s excellent book, Maximum vSphere. Contest ends January 13, 11:59 p.m. PST and is open to everyone, but prizes will only be shipped to winners within the US. Two winners will be announced no later than January 17.
Multiple responses are allowed — submit early, submit often.
UPDATE: Check out the colorful commentary by Colin Steele at TechTarget.
Comeback inspiration
For some comeback inspiration, take a look at this classic Seinfeld scene. Just don’t go all George Costanza on us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpNPw4H6_tU
Disclaimers: Book giveaways provided by publisher. Contest not sponsored by, nor affiliated with, any third-parties. No clouds were harmed in the making of this blog post.
the cloud is roads to more than just an operating system
Virtualization alone does not a cloud soluti…C:\Program Files\Cloud\HyperV\hyper.exe is not a valid win32 application. Stop ERROR 0x0000020
LOLLLLLLLL
Win!
“You have to add vapor and FUD too.”
You need vendor lock-in too.
“Bill Gates, who for years was the richest man in the world, is also one of the smartest. But even he couldn’t figure out how to beat the Internet — how to transition his grand old monopoly software company, Microsoft, into a business that thrives on the Net. And so he begins his retirement today from Microsoft as the PC era’s biggest winner, and the Web era’s most spectacular casualty.” Josh Quittner
I’d like to submit:
vSphere, taking the Hyper-V entilation out of cloud computing.
You also need patches, lots of patches… And security holes, you need those too.
OMG Cloud me in the Neck!
No amount of marketing fog can dispell the actual working clouds seeded by VMware
“Bloody hell..even on billboards they’ve got BSOD’s!”
“VIRTUALIZATION ALONE DOES NOT A CLOUD SOLUTION MAKE.”
“… WITHOUT A GENUINE VMWARE CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT SOLUTION”
Yoda called…he wants his speech writer back.
Eric,
This made my Monday morning, great find! Perhaps Microsoft was going for a Yoda impression. May the cloud force be with those with proper grammar 🙂
I would say you would want to hit them on their dumb cloud commercials. So something like “Get more out of your cloud than just sharing documents” or “The cloud is more than just sharing pictures”
Another one would be “Don’t let your cloud go up in flames” or if you want to be more vaguely direct against Microsoft and more complicated, “Don’t let your cloud go up in flaMeS” with “flae” in red and “MS” in black
Don’t believe the hype mind-share does not equal market-share, VMware is the silver lining in the cloud.
Microsoft – Transforming the cloud into fog.
Open your window panes to let in the VMware clouds
or
No Window panes if you want clouds
or
Windows block Clouds
or
Feel the clouds without windows.
Clouds pills for window pa(i)n(e)s
How about a simple equation:
Microsoft – (Jim Allchin – Ray Ozzie – Bob Muglia) + Steve Ballmer = FAIL
There is no try. Do [cloud] or do not
(With a Yoda-esque little green guy beside it, leaning a stick)
Ask yourself “what would google do” 4 VIRTUALIZATION?
Microsoft is in a coma.
Creating products in every corner of technology does not make you a virtualization expert.
Database server …. check.
Mail server…. check.
Server OS … check.
Client OS … check.
Collaboration server … check
Hypervisor … CHOKE.
Are you Azure of that?
LOL, good one. 😀
I’m pretty Azure that is decent. Like most MS offerings; Decent.
Cloud you say? The vForce you must use.
Oh, man, it took out my yoda tag…
Cloud you say? hmm.. The vForce you must use. -Yoda
Virturlization without the Virtulization (Type-1 Hypervisor) layer does not a Cloud Solution make
Hardware, Windows, Apps
We’ve got our head in the clouds remembering the old days. That’s our solution.
I was one years ago that read “In a world without fences and walls, who needs Windows and Gates?”
Boy, you guys at VMware must be feeling really sensitive if that’s what classes as an attack these days, it’s just a simple statement of fact.
Do you work for Microsoft?
Yes, I would have thought that was reasonably obvious given the URL for my website.
I thought that was Jacob’s submission for the contest. It’s pretty good.
Eric
64 million lines of code should be enough for anybody
Microsoft (TM) Windows (TM) Cloud Server 2011 R2 Data Center Edition – Where do you want to rain today? (C)
Have mission critical apps? Never rely on Virtualization technology that requires old Windows Registry code.
The Microsoft Cloud – Where your head goes after pulling it out of your rump.
OR
Marketing alone does not a legitimate business make.
Hahaha, marketing alone, I like that.
OR
Don’t Believe the Hyper-V
Was listening to Queen’s “I want to break free” when I came across this blog.. so… picture Freddie Mercury tied up and singing…
“I want to break free.. free from hyper-Veee”
I think the Rolling Stones coined it… “Hey you get off my cloud”
or what do call a sheep with no legs? Azure
a Clouded vision does not equal a vision of the cloud.
Microsoft alone does not a Cloud Solution make.
Virtualization without VMware does not a Cloud Solution make.
Get vCritical on a Microsoft Cloud Solution.
“Did you hear the one about competition? Microsoft bought Heinz, and still couldn’t Ketchup.”
Some clouds may be formed of vapor but ours started with virtualization!
Hyper-V is just hype I see
“Marketing alone does not a solution make”
Oops. I see someone beat me to that.
The only thing you’ll get with a Micro$oft cloud is soaked.
“Hyper-V is dumb”
“Hyper-V – It will give you herpes”
VMware: No windows need to be opened to experience our clouds.
or
Mydoom, MSBlaster, Zotob, CodeRed, Conficker…Same target, same result. Virtualization is for proven technologies, not flawed ones of the past.
or
Our vehicle does not need Windows to get to the cloud.
“VMWARE ALONE DOES NOT A HYPERV SOLUTION MAKE.”
ESX, all virtual, no monkeys.
I know I am late but wanted to comment:
“Virtualization the foundation of cloud computing. Do you want to build on the rock of vSphere or the sand of Hyper-V?”
“Virtualization alone does not a cloud solution make” ?
An OS that has both a browser and a (weak) hypervisor “bloated-in” does not a cloud solution make either.
Dominance does not excellence make.
Microsoft Alone (where they like to be) does not make a cloud solution !!
Contact your VMware rep for more details
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is NOT a “To the Cloud” solution
VMware – we have solutions
How many times should you have to re-boot your cloud ?
NONE – see http://www.vmware.com for details
We are not alone in virtualization, Come join us !! VMware
The ultimate Cloud solution is a multi-vendor solution that enables YOUR business
VMware
Hyper-V: Redefining cloud computing with pure Obfuscation and FUD
Hyper-V: Redefining cloud computing with pure FUD and lots of Obfuscation
(On a billboard before Microsoft’s)
Limited visibility: Microsoft Cloud Power ahead.
Windows alone does make a cloud solution break!!
The VMware response is to provide superior cloud solutions.
Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride with Microsoft Cloud Power.
Smooth your transition to the cloud with VMware.
It’s hard to get to the cloud when your servers are stuck on the ground.
oh you mean when your windoze boxes are busy taking a dirtnap
Cloud alone does not an IT solution make.
vMama
vCloud: no smoke (and no mirrors).
“Azure!”
“Gesundheit.”
VMware. The cure for the common cloud.
Microsoft has to add this to their add:
Coming soon!!!
“Marketing alone does not a cloud solution make”!
“Our clouds, the earth they do not cost. Can others say the same?”
“Unlike others, we don’t have our head in the clouds, we build the clouds”
“Our virtualization makes the weather cloudy over Redmond”
“Do Clouds require an Active-X to start?”
Hyper-V: Press any key to restart
or
VMware: Hand-crafted by people that care
or
Microsoft Cloud – Don’t let it rain on your parade
or
Microsoft Cloud – It will rain on your parade
Pingback: Winners announced for the "Microsoft Cloud Power" vComeback Contest | VCritical
Thanks everyone for participating. Winners have been selected, please see https://vcritical.com/2011/01/vcomeback-contest-winners-microsoft-cloud-power/
My submission links to this MS article (For $50,000, I could pay someone to move my virtual machines for me) where MS bolsters the opinion that hot migration (& really it’s about whatever competitor technology MS does not yet have) isn’t needed by its customers:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/virtualization/archive/2008/10/06/for-_2400_50_2c00_000_2c00_-i-could-pay-someone-to-move-my-virtual-machines-for-me.aspx
So I guess the moral here is that the cloud also requires (and should be trusted to) an intern who works 24x7x365.
Bring on the cloud, not the hype(r-V)