Will hypervisors make Ubuntu and other Linux operating systems obsolete?

David M Williams
Wednesday, 16 July 2008 21:05

Business IT - Technology

In fact, things can go further. Fundamentally, you use operating systems to let you run software on top of your hardware. Casting an eye over my crystal balls, the next step in the virtualisation process, in my opinion, will be pretty much to just run isolated applications within their own environment. Sure, these may still be complex items – like an e-mail or database system, not merely Solitaire – but virtualisation will become more about the application. We’ll see virtual PCs which themselves have the need for an initial operating system installation be eradicated.

I think this is feasible. After all, consider successful projects like WINE – which allows a wide range of Microsoft Windows applications to execute on top of Linux. The way this is achieved is by providing Linux equivalents for the Windows operating system functions that the software applications call.

In the same way, the virtual environments of the future will provide their own equivalents for the major functions that an operating system performs, particularly where related to hardware. The virtual environment is already providing a layer whereby it exposes its fictional set of devices to the virtual computer, and translates any calls to these into appropriate calls to the genuine hardware. Why bother having an operating system sit between this layer and the applications on the virtual computer? Why not just let the virtual machine take the application request in the first instance?

Could virtualisation sound the death knell for operating systems as we know them? Is this going to be the end of the line for Ubuntu, Fedora, Red Hat, SUSE, even the cute sounding Puppy Linux? Is this the computing equivalent of the famed martial arts “touch of death” move that applies a deadly blow without the opponent even feeling it?

Ok, enough suspense. The short answer is no. Simply put, the value of hypervisors and silicon-embedded virtualisation techniques pretty much rely on, well, that you’re going to virtualise all your infrastructure. Now, for home users that really won’t be the case. Some people have enough trouble running one computer. Imagine trying to explain to them they’ve now got several running, but all from the one box. No, for the home desktop the operating system shall live on.

For the big end of town, this is also true for the company desktop. You may choose to roll out a terminal server / dumb terminal platform – that will certainly remove the requirement for a desktop operating system – but that’s a different kettle of fish. No, apart from this, you also won’t be telling the receptionist she’s now got to work with a collection of assorted virtual machines.

For the data centre end of the company though, it’s a different story. Here, virtualising your server hierarchy makes a lot of sense. And this is the end where operating systems long to be: you can’t tell me Windows Vista Home Basic doesn’t secretly lie on its pillow at night wishing it were Windows Server 2008 Datacentre edition. I’m sure Ubuntu longs to stretch itself out on a 64-bit RAID 5 SCSI rack-mounted server with built-in ILO. What then, for them?

CONTINUED