Still Not Virtualized? Take the Leap

by Sam Dean - Aug. 30, 2010Comments (0)

Have you jumped on the virtualization train yet? If you haven’t, you’re missing out on the incredible convenience of having more than one operating system at your disposal when you’re using a single computer. The free offerings and the fee-based ones are now so automated and easy to use that there is no reason not to explore virtualization. If you’re interested in quick and easy ways to start running multiple operating systems at the same time—and tons of applications for them—here are some good resources.

I happen to run Mac OS X and Windows XP together one one virtualized system, and Windows and Linux together on another one. There are tons of benefits to using all three operating systems. The Mac OS means that I can run the very best graphics, video and illustration apps. Windows lets me run lots of favorite apps from over the years, and Linux is awesome for secure sessions, specialized types of apps and more.

If you’re interested in running all three of these operating systems, Lifehacker has an excellent how-to article up about it. They detail how to get going with VirtualBox.

It’s also worth reading Lisa’s extensive roundup of virtualization solutions. She discusses a raft of open source and proprietary solutions. Also, if you are interested in the tradeoffs that exist between the open source and proprietary virtualization offerings, check this post, and check out Kristin's post here.

It used to be true that unless you had a very maxed-out computer, virtualization would slow you down. As long as you have a system with decent resources available, though, that is no longer true. If you’re short on RAM, I would recommend a RAM upgrade before you dive into virtualized life, but that’s a cheap upgrade these days, and the efficiency benefits of having multiple OSes can’t be stressed enough. Take the leap.