Dell To Run Windows And Linux Together
Dell to run Windows and Linux togetherAug 14 2007
Dell is developing consumer PCs that can run multiple versions of Microsoft's Windows and Linux software at the same time.
Users of the new Dell PCs would be able to simultaneously run multiple, software-generated computers on one machine, using an increasingly popular technology known as 'virtualisation' that allows greater flexibility and computing security.
One virtual machine might run Windows Vista and handle every day computing tasks, while another could be used only to browse the internet, limiting any security threats to the parameters of the virtual machine - which could be deleted.
A third virtual machine might run a version of Linux that is compatible with programs on the user's work computer. And a fourth virtual machine might run Windows XP software that is not compatible with the Windows Vista machine.
Such PCs could go on sale as early as next year, Dell chief technology officer Kevin Kettler said while attending the LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco.
However, he declined to say whether the machines will be able to run Apple's OS X software designed for its Macintosh computers, whose sales are growing faster than the overall PC market.
"I can't speculate on that," Mr Kettler said. "Virtualisation is very powerful. It's an environment that would allow many different operating systems to co-exist. You can interpret that however you would like."
Mac computers are able to run Windows software using virtualisation programs, including SWsoft's Parallels and VMware's Fusion.
Dell is developing the machines with help from several partners, including EMC Corp's VMware business, which is expected to go public through an initial public offering next week and privately held SWsoft, he said.
The technology is already being used in consumer PCs, although so far it is not heavily marketed by personal computer makers other than Apple, which uses the same kind of microprocessors from Intel in its Mac computers that are used in many PCs that run on Microsoft Windows.
A virtualisation software package known as Parallels from privately held SWsoft is one of the top-selling programs for Macintosh computers.
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) I've played with Ubuntu, but wasn't too impressed with it. Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance. I'm just a Mandriva kind of guy, Linux-wise. I keep two hard drives for my laptop - XP and Mandriva - and recently built a Mandriva workstation, but my squaw found a way to smoke the mobo a week after I had it on the network.
