Virtulization, Virtulization, Virtulization
For a decade now I’ve been a fan of virtulization (of course, that’s partially predicated on understanding what virtualization is, and how it works — and it’s limitation).
For software developers it offers a large number of practical uses… but more and more the average computer user is discovering the benefits of using virtual machines.
In Windows 7 Microsoft has built the “Windows XP” compatibility feature on top of virtualization (which means to use it you’ll need a processor that supports hardware virtualization — so many low end computers and notebooks aren’t going to have the ability to use the XP compatability feature).
While Windows 7 might make running older programs a seamless, you can (of course) install another virtualization package and still run older software.
Which virtualization package to choose???
Well, for me it’s an easy choice…
- Windows Server 2008 on machines that have hardware virtualization – HyperV
- Windows 7 on machines that have hardware virtualization – Virtual PC
- All others (Windows, OS-X, Linux) – Virtual Box
Now, the disclaimers… if I were running a commercial enterprise; and I didn’t want to spend the money to buy Windows Server 2008, Microsoft does offer Windows Server 2008 – Virtual Server Edition for no cost (you really need one Windows Server 2008 in order to effectively manage it — but you can install the tools on Vista if you really don’t have it in your budget to buy a single license).
And no, I wouldn’t choose Linux OR OS-X as the platform to run a commercial virtualization infrastructure on… simply because device support for modern hardware (and modern hardware is what you’re going to base a commercial virtualization infrastructure on if you’re serious) is unparalleled PERIOD.
If you’re running Vista or Vista 64 you may decide to user Virtual PC ( a better choice would be Virtual Server 2005 R2); but Virtual Box is being actively developed, and it’s hardware reference for virtualization is much more modern (and I feel a better choice).
To make it simple… the choice comes down to Microsoft HyperV derived technology or Virtual Box. Perhaps if I were a *nix biggot I’d put Xen in the loop, but like with so many Linux centric projects there are TOO MANY distributions, and too many splinter efforts.
One last note; keep in mind that you need a license for any operating system that you run in a virtual environment.
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