The problem is not VMware or Dell, but the cores, if the cores have to be close enough in feature set to allow transportability. Yes, you can mask features in the chipset, but that is what VMware and Dell are saying is not supported. If the cores are close, for example you can often VMotion from an other chipset to a newer one. VMware has discussed chipset masking and even has ask INTEL and AMD to help resolve the issue at the chip design level, but this is not in the best interest of INTEL or AMD. If you think about it, they are the most signficant impactee by virtualization, and right after them of traditional OS publishers.
