Quoting from Computer World:
…
“The idea [that] people will gravitate to Oracle VM for virtualization for non-Oracle applications [is interesting, but] I don’t think they will,” said Galen Shreck, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc.
Shreck predicted that non-Oracle sites will continue to turn to established virtualization technology from companies such as VMware, Microsoft Corp. or Citrix Systems Inc.
Oracle, he said, lacks the systems management capabilities and independent software vendor partner relationships needed to create a virtualization platform for the masses. “I don’t think Oracle can keep up” with the virtualization capabilities of market leader VMware, or even Microsoft and Citrix, Shreck added.
Read the whole article at the source.
Competition isn’t the point: so far Oracle VM effort never seemed an attempt to compete with existing virtualization market players.
It rather seems a way to offer a new product’s feature, database consolidation, without losing control of advantages/shortcomings: if Oracle officially support its products on 3rd party hypervisors the pressure to change its licensing terms will be much bigger (the company still enforce a per physical processor model).
Locking customers in with a restrictive support policy allows Oracle to get the most out of its traditional business model before being obliged to change it.
It’s yet to be seen how many customers will decide to surrender this game and stick with Oracle instead of looking for more virtualization-friendly competitors.