Technology news and Jobs 
iPhone Virtual Linux, coming to a desktop near you
iPhone Virtual Linux, coming to a desktop near you | Virtual Linux, coming to a desktop near you |
|
| by David M Williams | |
| Friday, 01 August 2008 | |
|
Page 1 of 3 Virtualisation is on the brink of turning operating systems into a commodity item. It may be realistic to see software applications shipped as virtual computer images in the near future. Linux has much to benefit from this, with a repeat of the phenomenal adoption rate it has enjoyed since the ASUS Eee PC. Virtualisation even lets you try out different Linux distros when you aren’t yet ready to make any major changes to your hard drive whether by partitioning or formatting, and where you find Live CDs and bootable USB sticks unsatisfactory. The Live CDs won’t retain setting changes between sessions and the USB stick systems may have woeful performance when compared to a memory-resident operating system and file structure. Virtualisation gives you one or more pseudo computers running just like any other application but providing a completely self-contained safe environment. You can install whatever you wish to on a virtual computer; it is essentially a whole new computer to use. It is as if you purchased another computer but without the loss of desk space. Much of the growth in virtualisation has been fuelled by the interests of large companies that see its positive benefits in reducing server infrastructure and decreasing energy requirements, by consolidating a number of legacy computers into a smaller number of physical machines but without losing any functionality or desired isolation because the physically distinct computers have been converted into logically distinct virtual computers. Each continues to run an operating system, a range of software applications and more. Even so, virtualisation won’t be restricted to just corporations in the future. It’s going to come to your desktop because it is an excellent software delivery mechanism. Years ago I purchased my first iPod. At the time the top model was white with 40GB. I loaded up every CD I had but was still far from filling up the device. I marvelled at how I could carry around a small hard disk with so many varied styles of content. It seemed to me there was no need to restrict this to just a blank media that was to be filled by the consumers themselves, particularly as I pondered my own DVD movie storage problem at home. I began seeing tiny hard drives as a media content delivery mechanism of the future. Instead of going to the video store and buying the complete 179 disc DVD set of Prisoner Cell Block H you might one day buy the same content from the video store but on a small hard drive, which slots into your home hard-drive player device. (I would have suggested the Matrix trilogy on a single hard drive but Prisoner is more impressive with 179 discs but I wouldn’t want the last two Matrix movies anyway!) So where am I going with this? The answer is simple and it’s the next big leap for Linux. CONTINUED |
| < Next story in category | Previous story in the category > |
|---|
