The company has gone after Microsoft and Citrix in the fight for share in the server virtualization space. Now there are signs the company wants to elbow some of its rivals in the Mac virtualization space. The current gimmick: Giving away a MacBook Air to the winner of a "My Switch to VMware Fusion" video contest.

You can read about the contest here.

Writes VMware's John Troyer:

Are you a Mac user that has switched from another method of running Linux or Windows on Mac (Boot Camp, Parallels, etc.) to VMware Fusion? If so, are you interested in switching to brand-new MacBook Air, with a copy of VMware Fusion included? Then we should talk.

One potential problem: Outside of "America's Funniest Home Videos," it's hard to think of a memorable video contest in recent years. VMware's contest, though, among other things, shows that it is thinking in new and different ways to grow in a virtualization segment that could be on the brink of turning into a free-for-all.

This year is shaping up as one in which VMware could well be in for some bruising competition. Citrix, fresh off its XenSource acquisition, is ramping up its offerings and Microsoft will officially launch Hyper-V later this year. The Mac platform has been growing faster than the PC platform over the past two years, and that virtualization segment is ripe for competition, too.

Will the world's thinnest notebook provide enough of a shield for VMware?