VMware server now free
Machine virtualization seems to be the hot topic right now in the computing world, especially with the release of VMware Server from EMC and Virtual PC 2004 from Microsoft for free. That means you can now host multiple virtual machines on your current Windows or Linux PC.
For the uninitiated, virtual machines is a process of running one or more different operating systems on one physical machine. Each virtual machine is a guest of the one physical machine, which is normally called the host. Each guest is totally independent, and do not know about the other guests.
This allows the user to do things such as:
- Testing different applications under multiple operating systems. You could have a WinXP virtual machine running on your WinXP machine. Installing software into the virtual machine has no effect on the host machine, so you can try out software without affecting your main machine. You can also roll back the changes made by the software in the virtual machine if it doesn’t work for you.
- Demoing software for multple sessions. Most virtual machines can roll back all the changes, so once you are set up to perform the demo, you can save a snapshot. At the end of the demo you can revert back to the snapshot, which switches everything back to the way they were originally.
- Ever wanted to try out Linux, but didn’t have a spare machine or didn’t want to bother with dual boot? You can now run it in a window on your current WIndows XP/2000 desktop.
- For the server end, it allows the network administrator to deliver servers through hosted virtual machines. These virtual machines can more easily be backed up or moved to different hardware. EMC has actual software that allows you to move a virtual machine to new hardware without any downtime!
For most users, it’s a very nice way of checking out different applications and operating systems. If you want a little less hassle and just want to check out Linux, check out the VMware Player and preconfigured virtual appliances.
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