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InnoTek announced yesterday that their VirtualBox virtualization software is going open source (GPL). Versions for both Linux and Windows are available for download, as well as the entire SVN code repository.

I've never tested their virtualization software, but by the looks of it QUEMU is the basis for the virtualization solution, and they support both Intel VT-x and AMD SVM for hardware assisted virtualization. Documentation looks scarce, but there are some good information to be found on the basic architecture.

Definitely worth having a look at when I get the time.

Microsoft has released a VPC hard disk image containing a pre-activated Windows XP SP2, IE6 and the IE7 Readiness Toolkit, read all the details on the IEBlog

One small caveat, the VPC image will expire on April 1st, 2007.

Virtual PC doesn't run in Linux, so you would have to run this in a Windows host. Or would you?
I haven't tested yet, but VMWare Converter should be able to convert VPC images to VMware Player / Server images.

Unless Microsoft has included some virtualization engine detection software in their appliance, this means that most Linux users should be able to convert and use the image on Linux as well.

Wonder if that would violate any EULA's?

VMware has updated their VMware Tools EULA, effective immediately. This change makes it legal to redistribute the VMware Tools package inside a pre-packaged appliance as long as the base OS is Linux. This is a welcomed change that should make it easier to pre-package the tools package inside distributed appliances.

This change does not, however, allow the tools to be redistributed in an appliance running on Microsoft Windows, but the legal implications of redistributing an appliance with a Windows base is far more involved than just the VMware tools package.

I wonder what Microsoft is really thinking with regards to distributed appliances. It's a market they seem to be totally ignoring so far, which really isn't surprising as none of the Microsoft licensing models would allow people to create appliances, based on Windows, for redistribution.

http://port25.technet.com is an interesting new site from Microsoft, devoted to the Microsoft Open Source Software Lab. As soon as the after effects of all the kids spewing anti-microsoft comments all over the place, this site could actually be something worth following.

So far there a few articles published, one which gives some insight as to how the Open Source Software Lab is set up, and what kind of equipment and software that powers it.

Well worth a visit, and as I said, I hope the kids leave the comments area alone, and let the people with more than half a brain actually use the site for what it's worth.

Podz, a Wordpress Support Maven and frequent flyer in #wordpress has posted his reasoning behind going back to Windows XP after a short affair with Ubuntu. I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with his experience. Linux simpy isn't ready for desktop usage, at least for people who want to use their OS and not fiddle around with their OS.

I love Linux, don't get me wrong. My own webserver runs Linux (of the Debian flavor), but my desktop remains XP. Why? Well, simply put; I like it. It's as easy as that, and it's not due to lack of experience with Linux either. I find using Linux on a desktop cumbersome, even obtrusive in ways and it "just doesn't feel right".

I also happen to manage roughly 25 servers, and about 110 clients on a daily basis, spread over 2 continents and 5 countries (Thats not counting our ships). If it wasn't for using Windows 2003 Servers, Active Directory, Citrix and Windows XP clients that would pretty much be an unsurmountable task. I want to enable my users to do their job, not battle with their computers. Of course, Microsoft being a market leader helps in a way, since everyone knows how use a computer with Windows on it. Thats just the way it is. I'm not saying that this is necessarily a good thing, but it does help me in my day to day job.

If I were to give my users a Linux box, I seriously doubt that it would increase their efficiency at all. As far as I'm concerned, running Linux on the desktop is still something reserved for those with a special interest in it, it's not for people who actually want to spend time using their computers for their day-to-day tasks.

So far, the best usage for Linux on the desktop (for Joe Average) I've seen is this and The VMWare Player based Browser Appliance.

BTW

: I think VMWare has struck gold with the newly released VMWare Player. It really opens up an alley of virtualization for everyone that I'm sure will find loads of good uses in the time to come.