I have no doubt that both companies will do well enough financially as virtualization becomes as common and commonly used a function as dual-core chips and networked storage. Analyst predictions of the incredible growth of the virtualization market will undoubtedly peter out, in fact, as virtualization as a function stops being a discrete function and the "virtualization market" focuses on advanced management products rather than hypervisors.

All that will pose major challenges for both VMware and Microsoft, and lesser dilemmas for Citrix and more peripheral players.

It will pose few challenges for HP, however or, to a lesser extent, IBM, Dell, Sun and other companies able to take advantage of a shooting war by selling weapons to both sides.

HP, owning as it does a set of hardware and software products that touch nearly every part of the virtualization market, including desktop, server and VM management, and the consulting, integration and support services required to spec, fund and finalize a major virtualization project.

HP even sells a line of thin clients that cost about the same as PC and look for all the world like them except for the lack of a hard drive. (Here's an idea: take a product, remove one of the costliest components, and sell it under a new name for the same price as the old one! Excellent business proposition.)

It has key alliances with both Citrix and VMware, as well as its longstanding open marriage to Microsoft and recently picked itself up a bit more capacity for the consulting and services that will form a big chunk of the big-company virtualization market.

True, it will have to tread a fine line between VMware and Microsoft on the hypervisor front; but whichever wins the customer in a particular engagement, HP is well placed to supply the hardware, services and even reseller-partner support to nail its part of the deal.

And, of course, it doesn't have to expend its energy or advertising in a pitches us-or-them battle with Microsoft over a major part of a business it developed in the first place as VMware has had to do (not to mention NetScape and Lotus and IBM and Novell and WordPerfect and half the other companies whose rusted hulks clutter the rear view on the information superhighway).

HP may not get a blue ribbon in this particular contest, but its part in the game will be written with a lot more black ink than most of the other players — no matter for which team they currently play.