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According to an unofficial price list announced on thincomputing.net the post-Microsoft pricing of the Softgrid products will be drastically lowered, up to as much as 85%. According to the news posting, the new prices will be

Softgrid Desktop Licenses: €32 / $38 (list) Softgrid Terminal Server Licenses: €18 / $21 (list) Softgrid Terminal Server Licenses will no longer be based on the concurrent number of users (as in all Microsoft products) Softgrid ZeroTouch will be free and part of the Softgrid Server software. Softgrid SMS Connector: Free (if you have other Softgrid licenses) The Universal Desktop license will disappear: it's either a Destop or a Terminal Server license. Softricity Software Assurance will disappear completely.

While I was sure that the Microsoft buyout of SoftGrid would turn into lowered licensing costs for the products, I don't think anyone guess that the price cuts would be this big.

No official word on this yet, so it's still very much unconfirmed. If this turns out to be the case, the entry point for enterprise application virtualization has been dramatically lowered. Especially the Terminal Server license price looks to be dirt cheap, and SoftGrid is an excellent way of doing application isolation in Terminal Server/Citrix setups. No more application silo's sounds very, very intriguing to me, and frankly Citrix Application Isolation in Presentation Server 4.0 leaves a lot to be desired. Citrix has it's own Tarpon project, but so far I can't comment on that as I've never seen or used it.

Interesting times for all those of us that are interested in virtualization on any form.

SoftGrid 4.0 explained by Softricity's Co-Founder David Greschler.

Just a quickie here, thanks to Douglas A. Brown and his site dabcc.com.

In a press release, Microsoft has confirmed that the Softgrid acquisition has now been finalized. The press release it itself isn't all that interesting, as it contains the normal mumbo-jumbo, but there are a couple of hints of whats to come.

With the closing of this acquisition, Softricity becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, and integration of Softricity's technologies into the Microsoft software delivery and engineering processes begins. Microsoft will soon make available the SoftGrid ® application virtualization platform at a reduced price in the streamlined form of two core offerings: SoftGrid for Desktops and SoftGrid for Terminal Services. Both products will include the Softricity ZeroTouch™ Web-based access and self-service portal functionality. In addition, Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 customers will be able to acquire Softricity's SMS connector as a free download. Support for existing Softricity customers will continue uninterrupted via existing sales and services teams and partners. Microsoft will provide additional details on the delivery of Softricity offerings that support Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn” at a later date.

In summary, SoftGrid gets a price cut, existing SMS users get a free connector and support for existing customers will continue as before.

There is no doubt that SoftGrid has been a pricey piece of software to buy, at least earlier. I just hope the price cut Microsoft is set to do, is big enough for this to become a mainstream product in the years to come. The technology behind SoftGrid's products is fantastic, and this might turn out to be a great deal for everyone dealing with Microsoft based enterprise setups.

This plugs into the whole SaaS (Software as a Service) mantra thats riding the Microsoft virtualization strategy, and the prospect of being able to serve client applications securly, without a footprint and almost regardless of where they are located is indeed a sweet one. If you want more details on SaaS and what it entails, have a look at Software Virtualization - Is it for Real?

In a press release dated the 22nd of May 2006, Microsoft outlines their Virtualization Road Map.

Mostly well known news there, but one thing caught my attention though was the following passage:

Intent to acquire Softricity, Inc: Softricity’s application virtualization and streaming technologies provide application compatibility and accelerate corporate desktop transitions to Windows Vista.

Softricity is an american based company which makes a very nifty application virtualization suite (Softgrid) that helps you entirely sandbox applications in their own virtual environments. Often used in combination with Citrix based Terminal Server solutions, but their applications also allows you to stream applications to a desktop computer.

To me, this sounds very much like Microsoft is definately moving towards a more "applications as a service" approach, and moving away from traditional software installation/distribution. "Pay-as-you-go" applications, available anywhere and at any time, virtualization and more. Seems like Microsoft is really shifting gears and they do start to look more like a service provider than an a pure OS/Office provider than before. For more reactions and analysis on how this will affect how we distribute software in Windows based solutions, check dabcc.com

Be sure to catch Bill Gates Keynote at Winhec live at 9PM PST on the 23rd of May. I'm sure these topics as well as Terminal Services are going to be covered.