It's been a while since I posted but I am going to try and do a better job of this in 2010. That being said, I wanted to talk about a free product that Windows Vista and 7 users should be aware of. Sun's VirtualBox product is a free desktop virtualization product. It allows you to create virtual machines that can be run on your PC to allow you to run apps in other operating systems. What makes Sun's product different than VMWare's desktop product (other than price) is that VirtualBox has a feature called seamless mode. Seamless mode lets you run for instance a XP virtual machine and only show the taskbar above your Windows 7 taskbar.
From the picture you can see my Windows 7 taskbar and the XP virtual PC Start button and taskbar right above it. Depending on what application I want I simply choose the taskbar from the PC I want to run the app from and select it normally. The application comes up as if it were running in my Windows 7 PC natively. This is a great feature for System Admins that need to run XP for AD tools or to emulate the user's XP applications for support purposes.
I am running Windows 7 64 bit so there are a few applications that are not compatible and I still need to run them in a 32 bit environment. VMware's Infrastructure client is an example of this. I am not able to run the client on my 64 bit version of W7 so I simply loaded it on the XP virtual machine and pinned it to the quick launch toolbar. When I run it, the program appears on my desktop in a seamless mode window that acts as if it were running on my W7 desktop.
Another practical application to use VirtualBox for is safer browsing. I have an Ubuntu virtual PC that I load in seamless mode and I am able to run the browser in that machine and not have it affect my local system. For the occasional shady link or site that you run across this is a great way to protect your PC from spyware or viruses.
There are several other features and uses of VirtualBox but I think that seamless mode might be the one thing that administrators or tech savvy users might find very useful. Being able to run another PC without having it feel like I am running another PC is a great bonus. I simply switch between applications as if they are all running on my primary desktop. And of course, VirtualBox has all of the standard features of a virtual environment. It allows me to share a folder or location on my host PC to the virtual PC without needing to create a separate share. I can load CD's and install applications just like a physical PC. A great product at the right price.
You can download VirtualBox from their website: www.virtualbox.org.
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