One of my past colleagues and fellow virtual server cloud inventor, Dave McCrory, posted an interesting comparison between Zoo Tycoon and the challenge of running a virtualized data center.

Way back in 2000, we talked about using this type of interface (or better a FPS!) to help manage data centers.  It still seems practical that the game dynamic of herding animals (VMs), visitors (users), attractions (infrastructure) ties very well to the daily activity of running a data center.

Looking that the landscape 10 years later, I think we’re still a long way from seeing that happen.  I don’t think it’s just a question of APIs – vendors need to look at the problem differently is we want to use this type of solution model.

Now, which start-up has the guts vision to give this approach a try?