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VM Bulletin 2000
BSD Today Running
numerous operating systems at the same time
InfoWorld: Am I the only one who doesn't know why to use VMware?(Dec 10, 2000)
LinuxPlanet: VMware Makes Move for Server with Two New Products(Dec 05, 2000)
NewsForge:
Plex86, VMware compete to get rid of dual booting(Nov 20, 2000)
plex86.org:
Plex86 runs Windows95(Nov 16, 2000)
Linux-Mandrake.com:
MandrakeSoft buys Bochs for Linux and commits it to Open Source.(Mar 23, 2000)
VMware enables you to run a Virtual Machine, which is VMware's version
of an emulated state of Windows, Linux, or FreeBSD. You heard me right-on VMware,
not only can you do Windows, but also Linux and FreeBSD. That means if you need
to test out that new version of Linux, but you don't want to format your drive
just to test it out, VMware can just create a virtual drive and you're on your
way to seeing what the latest version of your favorite distribution has to offer.
To date, VMware has been pretty much a development product, but thanks to
demand for a stable, versatile operating environment, VMware has upped the ante
and created their best version of VMware yet-2.0.2.
If you've used a package like Connectix VirtualPC for the Macintosh PowerPC,
you'll notice many likenesses it shares with VMware. The website may really
hype VMware up and make it sound like there is no loss of performance, but the
simple fact is that you do lose clock speed, RAM and hard disk speed, just like
you would with any piece of emulation software.
In fact, you can tell both VMware and VirtualPC are designed along the same
lines. The configuration is much the same, except one is obviously more PC-fied,
while one is more Mac-centric.
Although, what it comes down to is compatibility. VMware does a much better
job at emulating x86 hardware, probably since it's operating on top of x86 hardware.
That's a logical assumption, right? Enough with guesswork, let's take a look
at what's really going on.
Here we see how it really works. A typical PC works like we see on the left.
I think the diagram oversimplifies things in a way, but it will do the job.
Essentially, VMware interfaces directly with most your system hardware, which
is one way it achieves pretty good performance even on low-end machines. Don't
get me wrong, you still won't get the full speed of your PC out of VMware, this
happens because things like the hard disk access (where it looks to be hurting
the most) are still done through the operating system.
This is how it all happens. This diagram shows you the devices which need VMware
still needs to call through the OS-disk, memory and CPU.
Once again, VMware has a few tricks up its sleeve. One great thing about VMware
is that you can utilize your local network to get access to your Windows or
Linux filesystem. In fact, you can even use a regular network along with your
local network at the same time, so you don't need to sacrifice anything with
the networking setup.
PALO ALTO, Calif., May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- VMware, Inc., the
leading provider of application and service delivery platforms based on innovative
virtual machine technology, today announced the closing of a $20 million strategic
financing round led by Dell.
VMware launched its first product in May 1999 -- software
for desktop personal computers that enables a single PC to simultaneously run
multiple, protected sessions with any combination of
, Windows
NT, Windows 2000 and other Intel based operating systems. Today, VMware has
more than 385,000 registered users, and is licensed in 5,000 corporations, in
more than 100 countries. The company will use the funds to accelerate the development
and deployment of server-based products for providers of hosted applications
and services over the Internet or corporate intranets.
"We see VMware as a significant emerging technology in the
computing industry," said Jim Totton, Dell's vice president of worldwide software
development. "Dell continues to invest in technologies that show strategic potential
in the marketplace."
"This financing positions VMware to move into the next phase
of growth and evolution of our business strategy: deploying VMware virtual machine
technology as a platform for Internet commerce and infrastructure," said Diane
Greene, a co-founder and chief executive officer of VMware. "We expect the investment
to have a huge impact on our current desktop business as well as speeding time
to market for our server products."
VMware's server products will address some of the most critical
issues facing providers of hosted applications and services. These include how
to guarantee security on shared servers, maintain the stability of existing
servers when adding new applications and services and overcome the incompatibility
of , Windows NT and Windows 2000.
"Today's solution -- a server for each application, service or customer -- is
not only expensive, but creates enormous systems administration and management
problems," said Greene.
Copyright © 1996-2007 by Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov.
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Last modified:
March 15, 2008