InfoWorld: VMware opens way to virtual worlds

“For many businesses, the next several months will be
less about making it big and more about making do. Because many
employees, such as developers, salespeople, and training staff,
require the use of several OSes, IT managers looking to save cash
should consider consolidating their operating systems at the
desktop. Indeed, installing multiple OSes on one computer can save
a bundle in hardware and support expenses.

Until now, there have been unfortunate constraints to loading
multiple OSes onto a single machine, and these often outweigh the
method’s supposed ease of implementation. Because most OSes are
usually installed in separate, and not always compatible, disk
partitions, data created under one OS is sometimes unavailable to
another.

Even with OSes such as Windows 98 and Windows 2000 Professional,
which can share the same partition, users often hit frustrating
walls when installing new software. Upgrading to Windows XP, for
example, could prove laborious, time-consuming, and ultimately
unsuccessful due to conflicts between the two commingling systems.
Adjusting these situations for success sometimes requires reloading
every scrap of data onto the system.”

Complete Story