“Seriously, Kevin? Are you going to VMware User Groups now?”
Yes, I am. As an IT Professional, and as one who does his best to represent the IT Professional Community as a whole, I think it’s useful to keep in touch with as many technologies and as many other IT Pros as possible. And sure, it’s also useful for me personally and professionally to keep up with what Microsoft’s competitors are doing. So, yes, I attend VMUGs whenever I get a chance. (This afternoon you’ll find me at the VMUG in St. Cloud, MN)
“Are you going there to stir things up, or just spy on the competition?”
I don’t stir things up**. In fact, sometimes it’s hard to just sit on your hands when there is misleading (or sometimes blatantly false) information comparing ESX or vSphere or vCenter to Microsoft’s Hyper-V and System Center 2012. But I’m quiet, polite, and not a spy. It’s all public information, is it not? I’m really just there to learn.
In fact, if anyone wants a really solid introduction to Hyper-V and System Center 2012 and how they compare to VMware solutions, I have created two easy-to-remember links to Matt McSpirit’s awesome recordings from TechEd North America 2012, which was held just a couple of weeks ago:
https://aka.ms/vir311 – Compete to Win, Part 1: Comparing Private Cloud Capabilities
https://aka.ms/vir312 – Compete to Win, Part 2: Comparing Private Cloud Capabilities
These sessions do an excellent job of contrasting our solutions. After watching these, I think that even the most diehard VMware fan will have to admit that Microsoft is a solid virtualization and private cloud platform choice.
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**At least I haven’t, yet. But if you ask me a direct question about Microsoft during one of these meetings or during the breaks, I’ll be happy to answer your questions. 
Absolutely Full of I.T. 