Welcome To Ordinary Virtualization User!
I'll quickly confess that for a long time, I did not understand the excitement about virtualization.
What little I did get was that Virtualization was a software layer on top of an operating system that allowed the "hardware interface" to be "virtualized" so that a typical computer could run more than one operating system simultaneously. I could see the value in that for saving money, space, and power by consolidating the functions of multiple servers onto systems that had underutilized resources. But if you weren't a system administrator directly in charge of a lot of servers... Virtualization wasn't that big a deal.
But then I had a conversation one Saturday morning with a couple of Amateur Radio buddies (Thanks Ken K. and Bill V.) and the light started to come on about why Virtualization really was such a big deal, and why it mattered to "Ordinary Users".
The biggest reason that Virtualization matters to Ordinary Users is that, finally, there is a way that your investment in hardware and software can be protected in the face of ever-rapidly-evolving hardware and software.
One example that's prominent right now is Parallels Desktop for Mac OSX. Parallels allows you to buy and use a Mac, but protect your investment in Windows software (and, to some extent, Windows hardware). One example is that my wife Tina likes using a Mac - essentially no issues with viruses, spyware, security, upgrades, etc. But she does like using Microsoft Word for Windows rather than Microsoft Word for Mac. One option is to set up her Mac to use Apple's Boot Camp feature to choose whether to boot into Windows or boot into Mac OSX. But using Parallels, Tina can use Microsoft Word for Windows within Mac OSX; Parallels even has a way of "encapsulating" a Windows application (they call it "Coherence") so that pretty much "looks and feels" like a Mac OSX application. So, that's one powerful, practical example of why Virtualization is a very good thing.
But what started getting me pretty excited about Virtualization was the possibility of running older Operating Systems and Applications that are still useful... or needed... or even essential... even though they won't run on current generation hardware. Hardware eventually wears out. Hard disks crash. Power supplies fail. Dust collects. Etc.
(To be continued in Why I Started Ordinary Virtualization User - Part 2)
By Steve Stroh
This article is Copyright © 2008 by Steve Stroh. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).
Comments