I guess no one ever asked before--maybe no one cares--or maybe it just isn't discussed. While at VMWorld, I asked a major virtualization vendor representative if they had implemented VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) in their Enterprise. The answer I got is shocking to me. Maybe someone should have asked before.

Maybe their answer is the right answer.

In my latest Linux Magazine Virtualization Column entry, I have drawn the analogy between automotive manufacturers who issue horses to their employees instead of cars to that of virtualization vendors who don't implement the technology they're trying to sell you. How do you feel about this? Does it bother you that vendors don't use their own products? Did you also know that Microsoft doesn't use Exchange for their email system?

Apparently, I'm behind since I'm told that there is terminology for this sort of thing: Not eating your own dog food or "dogfooding" and I find it absolutely unthinkable. Maybe I'm the one that's naive and I just don't understand how technology companies work but I do know one thing: If they don't use it, I'm not using it.

Now a twofold call to action:

First, contact your favorite vendors and ask them if they use their own technology that they are selling to you. Do Apple employees use iPhones? Do Microsoft employees use XP or Vista and what about Outlook and Exchange? Do Linux vendors use Linux for their Servers and Desktops? If not, why? And why should we use technologies that they themselves don't?

Second, let them (and me) know about it. We have a voice and should use it to become agents of change. I think we all know how powerful our individual voices are from the results of the national political scene over the past 8 years.