Is that a chip on your shoulder?

VMware spent a disproportionate amount of time in the Analyst meeting "explaining Microsoft's competitive playbook" (the Karl Rove perspective on industry competition) apparently in hopes of explaining how MS was lying and cheating and distorting the facts about virtualization. Given that a younger and brasher VMware in the not so distant past redefined vendor arrogance on more than one occasion, this seemed to fall in the category of "the pot calling the kettle black," and for us probably had the undesired outcome of demonstrating how much VMware really fears the Evil Empire from up north. Or are we unduly cynical for assuming that all vendors spin the facts to suit their pleasure? Isn't that the definition of "marketing?" Many of VMware's top execs spent significant successful portions of their careers at Microsoft and seem to be overly conscious of the Microsoft threat to the point where they may be caring more about Microsoft's reactions to what VMware does than to how customers may react. We had to sit through rather long diatribes about the "Microsoft Playbook" and what to expect from Redmond. There's an old adage in the advertising business that says you're winning the battle if you can get your competition reacting to what you do rather than paying attention to what customers want. Without even firing a shot across the bow, Microsoft is commanding more of their mindshare than it may be due. Let's hope that's not the case here.