The advent of widespread virtualization in Enterprise IT has lead to some interesting conundrums in the matter of software licensing. Traditional, if arbitrary, methods of licensing server software based on the number of processors or cores has broken down with the ability to run multiple operating systems on a single set of powerful processors, and software manufacturers are scrambling to adapt to the new world. Information Week has a good article posted detailing the various ways that more prominent developers are addressing the issue.

Some of these methods screw you more than others, but in an industry that has long sought to modify the terms with which it offers you use of its intellectual property it's to be expected that this situation is viewed as a golden opportunity to turn the screws in use and licensing matters.

From the CIO's perspective, however, it's not simply the end result of the terms of licensing, but rather the complexity of enforcing those terms, which is important. Increasingly, the cost of licensing is increasing not simply in the amount due to the developer, but in the cost and time associated with tracking and calculating that amount.

The combination of added complexity in licensing terms as they apply to virtual machines, and the downright hostility of some licenses to virtualization, seriously degrades the ability to legally take advantage of many of virtualizations promises of lower cost and ease of administration. That these complications are being introduced by many of the same software companies which are putatively encouraging the virtualization trend is hypocritical at best, and counter-productive at worst.