In the Macintosh world, virtualization is an alternative to dual-booting. Instead of using Boot Camp on an Intel-based Macintosh computer, you can save yourself the hassle of having to reboot to change Operating Systems by using use Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion for Mac to run Windows or Linux on the Mac. These products allow Macintosh users to run software which would normally only be available on other Operating Systems.

In one interesting case I’ve read about, Tanker Bob, a “Windows Mobile guru”, decided not to upgrade from Windows XP to Vista. Instead he installed Kubuntu Linux on his desktop PC, and ran Windows XP Pro within VMware Workstation for Linux. That was his way of running the Windows applications he needed (and which did not have Linux counterparts) in a Linux environment.

Other Windows users run VMware for Windows on Windows Vista so that they can run Windows XP on Vista. Of course you an do it the other way around, but frankly I wouldn’t buy Windows Vista – I’d rather get it with a new PC if I really have to.

With the free VMware Player for Windows (there is also a Linux version), you can download “virtual appliances” which can be as simple as a pre-installed Linux distribution, and try them in Windows without changing your Windows setup – one of the safest ways to try Linux.

Posted on February 29th, 2008 by mervyn