"I remember the day I was interviewed at VMware. I was asked what I would do to improve Workstation, and one of the things I said was that it would be nice to make a VM go rootless. That is, pull application windows out of the VM and make them integrate well with the operating system. I wasn't the only one. A lot of people wanted this type of feature. It's been discussed for years, but it's always been hard to find the manpower to do it. But competition is good, and we finally got some people on this feature. And it turned out spectacularly."
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Member since:2007-06-07
I like VMWare as a product, and I have purchased Workstation, but this is just plain BS...
"It targets x86 processors, of course, for which virtualization did not exist before VMware invented it. "
Maybe you are new to computers, but by 97, a year before VMWare was even founded PC Virtualization was not only out there, but had been out for some time. PC-Task was already on version 3.1, and it was being included on magazine covers.
"The December 1997 issue represented a contradiction in the Amiga market. If it was dying, as many were saying, how could CU Amiga afford to increase the number of pages from 108 (where it had been since November 1996) to 116? Having expanded the Amiga in the past year, CU set its sights on running software on the improved processors. The December edition gave away the full version of PC Task 3.1, with MS DOS 3.3, allowing Amiga users to run 286 software."
The full article can be found here: http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/cuamiga5.html
And for Hardware Virtualization of the x86 there was the Emplant. A review of the system can be found in this newsletter from 1995:
http://www.cucug.org/sr/sr9510.html
In 1996 I saw Amiga WordWorth, Mac Word, and x86 Wordperfect all running side by side on a single computer. Well, actually top to bottom, as it was on an Amiga.
So, besides the fact that emulating yet another common processor is so obvious it is painful, VMware wasn't even close to the the first to 'Invent' x86 Virtualization.
Perhaps instead of trying to defend VMWares exploitation of the patent system, you could apologize for 'pirating' other peoples 'intellectual property'.
Member since:2007-06-07
Member since:2006-04-09
@ HPReg
QUOTE: "My understanding is that Parallels Desktop 3.0 (private beta) has multiple snapshots."
Yes they have, now the question is (and I asked this before) will VMware enforce any of the 13 (is that number correct?) software patents (specially Patent 6795966) against Parallels? I'm assuming they won't but I would like to get an insider opinion about this.
QUOTE: "I guess we can now conclude that this whole snapshot patent issue was just FUD. The only question is: whose intesrest is it to spread this FUD?"
Listen, if you work for VMware and think of starting pointing out legit questions as being FUD, then you won't make many friends along the road... I raised some legit questions based on facts. It is not FUD and I am not the boogey man.
@ Karrick
QUOTE: "(2) If you want to whine about the broken US Patent system, there are **plenty** of places to take your discord." AND "(4) Kudos to ChipX86 to stepping into OSNews to candidly answer a few questions. How often do we see that sort of developer<->user interaction in the commercial software industry?"
How can you praise developer<->user interation when you accuse people raising legit questions of being whining?
@ dwave
QUOTE: "Software patents are not illegal in the EU - There just isn't a framework of laws yet to permit them."
Sorry but you are mistaken, software patents are illegal in the EU: Article 52 EPC excludes "programs for computers" from patentability (Art. 52(2)) to the extent that a patent application relates to a computer program "as such" (Art. 52(3))
http://www.european-patent-office.org/legal/epc/e/ar52.html
Member since:2006-09-30
Member since:
2007-06-07
Disclaimer: I do work for VMware.
> It is interesting (read strange) that that feature isn’t in Parallels
My understanding is that Parallels Desktop 3.0 (private beta) has multiple snapshots. I guess we can now conclude that this whole snapshot patent issue was just FUD. The only question is: whose intesrest is it to spread this FUD?
> Look at this, filed back in October of ’98 is a Patent 6397242, which
> is titled “Virtualization System Including a Virtual Machine Monitor
> for a Computer with a Segmented Architecture.” Which sort of
> sounds like a generic description of virtual machine technology.
The patent is very specific about using segmentation. It targets x86 processors, of course, for which virtualization did not exist before VMware invented it.
> And as you get down, you get to Patent 6795966, filed on February
> 4th of 2000, and that was issued on September 21st of 2004. Get
> this: “Mechanism for Restoring, Porting, Replicating, and
> Checkpointing"...
Snapshots are just about disk state. This patent is about the entire virtual machine state.
I agree with you the patent system is borken, but it is not VMware's job to fix it. VMware just does what it is best to defend its interests. Who would not?