Without getting too far into the details, the concept of virtualization emerged as a way to create multiple “virtual computers” within one physical computer. This concept was embraced early in the development of desktop PCs, and as such was developed and is largely associated with IBM hardware and Microsoft Operating Systems (OS). As early as 1967, engineers started working with the idea of organizing computers so that the operating system was separate from the programs. The typical organization at the time was to have the OS, hardware and programming contained in a fixed, pre-packaged combination of hardware and software.

Of course, unless you are using 100% of the programming resource, then your computer will have programming capability that is idle. As memory hardware became smaller and cheaper, this became even more evident. In the early 1970’s Microsoft decoupled the OS from programs paving the way to build multiple “virtual computers” in a single hardware package. At the same time they also made the source code available. These decoupled systems consisted of a “Host” computer with a number of “guest” computers whose behavior was determined by their programming. Numerous programmable versions that might sound familiar were developed on various platforms such as IBM SYSTEMS/360, PDP11, and X86. When they became open-sourced, that created the opportunity for outside programmers to independently develop and sell programs on their own. By way of contrast, Apple, during this time, held the source code closely and did all the program development in-house.

Open-source systems survived and grew to create their own ecosystems which are continuing in use today. Some of the more familiar ones are Linux, OS/2 and Unix. They work, in part, because their code is open sourced. This ensures that the pool of potential contributors is huge. This is good for virtualization – creating within the physical computing machine different operating systems and process containers.

Here’s an example of how you might implement a virtualization, to give you an idea of what’s involved. Lastly, we’ll cover the benefits of the virtualization process.

If you followed this story so far, and you aren’t an IT professional, then here’s where you need to get that person involved. The basic steps are to open the host computer as an administrator (Windows11 for example). Install the guest software (Linux would be a good choice). Restart the computer and a program called WSL2 will enable you to run either Windows or Linux. This will get you the Graphical User Interface (GUI) Linux-based apps alongside Windows 11 with minimal virtualization overhead.

If you want the whole Linux package, then you will need to use Virtualbox along with Hyper-V (built into Windows11 Pro). Use the Hyper-V manager to create another instance of a virtual machine for Linux. Like many programming problems these are two ways above to virtualize Linux on Windows 11. The small table below gives a comparison of the plusses and minuses of each approach.

There are a number of benefits to virtualizing. The most obvious is that you can have two or three equivalent computers in a single desktop machine. They can be physically attached to a different keyboard and monitor, a configuration known as multiseat desktop virtualization, so its use is completely transparent to another user. If you have some memory intensive program (analyzing a lot of data for example), they won’t interfere with each other. There is also the issue of security. If some information needs to be secure it can be isolated to stay on its own “guest” instance of the computer. Depending on which visualization you choose, you will gain access to a whole new library of applications. Virtualization ultimately is a business decision, usually driven by efficiency. If it makes sense for your operation then you should do your homework and make sure you know the resources you have available and to manage your expectations. When the right resources come together it can make a world of difference for your operation and virtualization is just another tool in your toolbox.

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