Number 289 - June 2007

Virtual Machines
Durham PCUG April 2007
For those who install and test a lot of software, but do not wish to junk up (and possibly damage) their main computer with uninstall remnants, nor do they wish to buy individual test computers, the preferred solution has been to run virtual machines on top of the operating system of the main computer. By doing so, the main, or host operating system (Windows or Mac), is protected from corruption. But can you install multiple copies of the same software on virtual machines? It's great that ...these other operating systems, installed on top of the host operating system (i.e.; in virtual machines), can be wiped out and reinstalled if they become unstable. And it's great that ...many software companies supply virtualization software: e.g.; Parallels, XenSource, VMware, Virtuozzo and Microsoft itself. (Some are free.) And it's great that. ..theoretically, you could run several installations of the same applications on the host computer,	with each application running in a different virtual machine. Trouble is. ..software licenses limit the number of installations to one virtual machine at a time, even though the software is really installed on only one physical computer. You' d have to buy multiple copies of say, "MS Office" in order to install it on multiple virtual (guest) machines, all of them running on the same host computer. Since digital rights management controls in installers should be able to read the machine's hardware device data, perhaps future installers will "know" that their software is being installed on the same computer, no matter how many guest installs might be asked for.    A free version of Xen Express, one of the "virtualizers" mentioned, is available at: www.xensource.com/"
Number 289 - June 2007