As you might know, I run Ubuntu Linux (7.10) as my main operating system. But, for a lot of things, you just need windows, and thats why today I am installing a (legal) copy of Windows XP pro (not that vista garbage) in VirtualBox. Now, VirtualBox is a wonderful piece of free software from Sun that allows you to run another operating system inside of your current one.
Now, why should you use software like VirtualBox in the first place? You could always just install it into a partition, right? However, the catch to that is that when you have that operating system on the hard drive then it has complete access to your hard drive so if it gets a virus…BANG! The virus corrupts the rest of the drive as well.
Basically, virtual machines are widely used for testing. This is because the virtual machine is separate from your real hard drive. It acts like it isnt even there! So, if you are testing a new product, it would be wise to use a virtual machine, so that none of your sensitive files would be damaged.
So yeah, if you want to test (or install windows in linux) then pick up a virtualization software!
Here are some popular brands:
Windows: Microsoft Virtual Machine
Mac: Bootcamp, VMWare Fusion
Linux: VirtualBox
Virtual machines are very useful for running applications from another operating system in your current one. Wine can do this moderately well in windows, but I prefer to have a virtualbox install of windows xp running inside linux. And yes, running windows in a virtual machine rather than installing it proper would limit the extent to which windows viruses could attack the system.
You really need to upgrade your Ubuntu install if you’re still using 7.10. As far as I know it is no longer supported. You should move up to 8.10 immediately.
Comment by probabilityzero — December 24, 2008 @ 8:37 pm