Is Virtualization The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

While virtualization is not without its share of detractions, its allure is great. After all, it promises to make compatibility and resource management woes  two eternal computer problems — things of the past. Imagine being freed from fears of software compatibility, and being able to reclaim your idle hardware for a purpose.  That’s the premise behind virtualization.  While new users may still not have heard of virtualization or understand its benefits, the movement is growing and it may eventually become as ubiquitous a concept as the desktop operating system. Virtualization is divided into two key categories – application virtualization and platform virtualization.  The goal of application virtualization is to provide compatibility layers.  This could allow you to, say run an old Windows 3.1 program on a Linux operating system.  The open source project Wine is an example of this kind of virtualization.

The second category is platform virtualization — bringing the whole OS onboard.  In this scheme, the kernel (a central component of the OS) may allow multiple servers (the interface users use to interact with the OS — how we perceive Windows) to run at once. Virtualization is a fast evolving field and it is not without its problems and obstacles.  One obstacle is cost.  While costs of virtualization are dropping (Windows virtual machines for home users come with copies of Windows 7 Professional at no extra cost), deploying such a solution at your business may require some up-front IT investment and hours.  In the long run it will save costs, but for cash-strapped businesses, this can be a deterrent to adoption, albeit one that will eventually be overcome.

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