[sf-lug] license count != software popularity (Re: [Balug-Talk] Open Source less popular than Free Software)

[jim stockford]

On Sep 26, 2007, at 8:48 AM, Asheesh Laroia wrote:

> You know, I have been going on about how great virtualization is 
> lately.
> (-;

    I forget. what do you like about virtualization? for whom is
its various benefits great?
    i've seen small outfits set up virtualization in order to run
various OS on a single machine. after watching, i decided
i don't like that model. the argument is that it saves labor
and materials costs and possibly even OS and application
administration costs. I don't buy it except in uses such as
school instruction or testing labs or some such. Seems to
me that running multiple apps can be done on one box
that runs one OS, and with more alacrity, as switching
context for processes is faster than switching the entire OS
context.
    what i love and adore about virtualization is the promise
that one can have a single virtualized machine and OS
running on top of multiple hardware boxes, in the load-
balanced cluster manner.
    hardware has always been the cheapest component of
the enterprise IT stack (hardware, OS, application software,
administration, training, data input, in that order cheapest
to most expensive).