AppStream beats Microsoft at its own (application virtualization) game

BetaNews just published an interesting story about a UK hosting company, Fasthosts, which is able to stream Microsoft Office to its customers using application virtualization and streaming technology from AppStream.

Putting aside the legal aspects of who signed what to make this possible, and which Office licensing term has been broken, the fact remains ironic considering the huge effort that Microsoft is putting in stimulating the adoption of application virtualization.

The Redmond giant started in 2006, acquiring Softtricity and including its SoftGrid product into the company offering. The strategy was then renewed this January when Microsoft officially announced support for virtualized versions of Office and hinted at a future server version of SoftGrid (now renamed Application Virtualization).

All of this while its competitor AppStream virtualizes its own office suite.