[Update: this was written before I realized that Apple had given up on desktop innovation and is only worth reading for the sake of seeing a cool idea that Apple could have added... if only they still cared]
Lately, there are a lot of people in geek-land (no facetiousness here, I love being a native of this strange place) talking about the fact that Apple insists they have no plans to do virtualization in Leopard, and wondering what this means for Boot Camp. Apparently, most people who care about this discussion assumed the current implementation of Boot Camp is no more than a beta leading up to a standard VM solution, a'la VMWare or Parallels. Has everyone forgotten that what we were promised by Intel with their new chips was not software virtualization as we know it now, but a model in which 2 OSs run concurrently, each with raw access to hardware?
Although this is still called virtualization, it is very different than what we generally mean when we talk about virtualization, which is typically a host OS with one or more guest OSs running within it. I've just gone back over Intel's whitepaper on the feature that is now a part of their Xeon chips, and it distinguishes it as a hardware solution rather than a software one. Ironically, it then discusses a micro OS which manages access to the hardware for the running OSs, so, technically, it still basically depends on software. We'll overlook that for now, though.
We use VMWare, Virtual PC, and Parallels at work, and virtualization is a drag as far as I am concerned. Apple is right to have no interest in it as it is mostly a pain in the nether regions to manage, and never really delivers on the promises. I just wasted a whole day trying to migrate a VMWare instance of Windows to Parallels, then wasted another half day trying to get a database backup out of it since it currently cannot access USB, constantly drops its network connection while copying the file, and, of course, can't burn a CD since that seems to be too much to ask of a VM. Don't tell me this is the future because I'll dig an old Mac SE/30 out of my closet and find some new floppies if that is the case. Come to think of it, I think I have a 56K modem laying around here somewhere that will work with it.
To me, Intel's hardware solution is a fairly obvious next step for Boot Camp. This is why I believe Apple is smugly saying they have no plans for virtualization, as they are going to one-up everyone else when Leopard comes out by offering the real solution, of which current virtualization solutions are merely rest areas on the way to. At this point, I'd even say most current solutions feel like one of those creepy rest areas where you're afraid to sit down on the toilet seats and the soap dispensers are all broken. In comparison, if this whole concurrent OS feature of Intel's lives up to the promise, it will be like one of those fancy bathrooms with the dude sitting on a stool handing out mints and real hand towels. Okay, enough of the diversion....
This might also explain the "Top Secret" features nonsense of Steve's keynote. Okay, so he says they want to protect some things from Microsoft's copy machines, but we all know that Microsoft will never make a rapid turn-around in trying to copy real features into the Windows OS. Heck, they can't even finish the features they already planned and promised, do you really think they will try to steal Apple's? And Steve's certainly not concerned about them trying to beat Apple to software virtualization since they already did that when they bought out Connectix. This move gained them their own virtualization solution, VirtualPC, and they have been spending a lot of time lately giving it away and doing viral marketing to try and take the wind out of Linux's virtualization sails. Until Parallels came along, I might even have conceded this victory to Microsoft since I'm just not a big fan of VMWare, but the competition is on again as Parallels has been trouncing VMWare in every category for our uses.
In theory, though, taking advantage of Intel's virtualization might be something Microsoft could pull off in a reasonable amount of time since the hardware is supposed to do the hard part already. Not to mention that they have a whole division of people (again referring to the Connectix acquisition) who weren't always Microsoft employees and might be used to getting real work down within deadlines.
If Apple keeps this somewhat secret and provides whatever drivers would be necessary for Mac and Windows to support the hardware, and get the 2 running concurrently, this could be a huge coup on their part and could add another major level of advantage to the XServe line, and all future Macs that are sold with Leopard pre-installed (presuming they will use chips that include this feature in the consumer lines).
You may ask what the big deal is, but I can promise you that when dealing with mission critical services, having multiple instances on one piece of hardware can save a lot of headache. The current problem, though, is that if the host machine goes down or needs a reboot for maintenance and upgrades, you lose all the guest OSs with it. Under Intel's model, each OS can be rebooted (or crash in the case of Windows) all it wants without any affect to the others. This has obvious appeal, especially if Apple can find one of its typically slick ways to allow passing files and clipboards back and forth between the running OSs.
Back to my point now. Apple is claiming they will not do virtualization. They could be telling the truth, they could be outright lying (hey, it's happened before - they said no support for running Windows and here I am talking about Boot Camp), or using classic marketing BS to tell lies while telling the truth. I feel that the latter is most likely, and that they will be unveiling support in Leopard for Intel's hardware solution. Since it is very different from current methods of virtualization, they'll come up with some fancy trademarkable phrase (like Concurrent Computing or Super Multi-Simul Boot) for the technology and continue to insist that it is not the same as virtualization, indemnifying them from their white lie.
Regardless of the actual strategy, the current abilities of Boot Camp and Paralells are causing Apple to have such a huge surge of sales to previous Windows-only users that they simply cannot let Boot Camp wither. The people have spoken... it's a multi-OS world, like it or not, so give us what we need and we'll happily bite your apple of temptation.
Thoughts?
[if you are new here, see the first post (http://groovechicken.blogspot.com/2006/12/new-look-new-purpose.html) for an explanation of what the point is and the way this house operates]
December 16, 2006
December 13, 2006
New Look, New Purpose
Okay, so if you've been here before, you may be wondering what happened. To keep it short, I recently decided to go a different direction with this blog. As far as waxing philosophical goes, those who spend any length of time around me hear enough of that as it is, and the rest of the world couldn't possibly care. And I'm not about to bore you with yet another site that compiles links to other places. I'm sure we all have more of those than our feed readers can refresh in 30 seconds (yes that is roughly an eternity to those of us with ADHD).
Which leaves me with something that is perhaps just as overdone, but not nearly as well done in as many places as those other types of blogs. That something is analyzing the tech industry on the level of what we have and what we want (we being those of us with some level [or at least a desire to have some level] of computer tech savvy). Perhaps you are immediately thinking of several other blogs that are already doing this and are asking, "Why?!?!?!" Trust me, this will be a little different. I plan to code each post in the subject line by what type of post it is, so you can skip it right away without wasting your time reading half the article first if you do not care about certain types of post.
For instance, when you see a post entitled "Review: Canon MP460" (it's coming, I promise), you can skip it if you don't care for my reviews. Or read it as the case may be. The idea here is that I do not plan to use gimmicks to trick you into reading an entire post if it is not the kind of thing you would normally care to read. I will try and stick to just a few codes / types of post so this doesn't become some rambling diary of tech madness that often graces the caches of our favorite browsers.
Review is self-explanatory. Another you will see is Informer, which will be a post in which I clarify something ambiguous, such as explaining a new technology or buzz-word, exposing a scam or gimmick, or letting you know of something cool that is not getting the press it should. Then there will be Rant. Apparently, some people actually are entertained when I get annoyed and fly off on one of my sarcastic rantings. I will only inflict you with those that received critical acclaim from a live audience first, though, to spare you the uncomfortable moments of wondering whether I truly have lost my mind. There will be others as I think of them, but there is one that you shall see most prominently here, as it is the area I am trying to fill in the most: Forecast.
I really wanted to use Prognosis since it sounds interesting, but I've lost my faith in the American education system and don't expect most people to even know what that means. So, I settled on Forecast, as it captures both sides of the coin. First, it is a prediction of what is to come based on good evidence. Second, it could be just as wrong as the local weatherman (unless you live in the desert where I presume the weatherman is always 100% accurate), so don't base any stock purchases off it.
As I mentioned, my Forecast posts will be based on good evidence... well, mostly. Sometimes, I will have real, concrete facts to back me up. Most of the time, it will just be a combination of logic and observation. You see, everyone is born with some gift that they excel in. For me, it's logic. This is a two-edged sword, by the way, in case you feel a little jealous, but bear with me. This logical acumen gives me some pretty darned good problem-solving skills, but also gives me a good sense of what "should be" when combined with my observational skills. So, I often see clearly how a series of events will unfold just based on the pure logic of it all. Sometimes, I'm even right. Apparently, however, not all people rely strictly on logic when making decisions, so this often causes my little prophecies to blow up when, much to my dismay, people start letting things like emotion and fear become part of the decision-making process. How dare they?
Another aspect of my Forecast posts is that they will sometimes involve upcoming products. Before you move your cursor up to that little "X", let me assure you that I have no plans to make yet another tech rumor site. My product forecasts will have some good reason behind them. Perhaps I may have some insider info from somewhere. Or maybe, they are actually just things I'd like to see and I am presenting them as if they were reported to me as insider info in a clever and elaborate scheme to give advice to companies in such a way that they can actually use it without fear of being sued for stealing my ideas (I call this a good reason because, in general, if I want something, it is so outrageously cool that lots of other people like myself with more money than good sense will also want it). And yet still, maybe St. Isidore of Seville, patron saint of the internet, appears to me from time to time to give me the lowdown on what's shaking in the valley. You just never really know, do you? So, if are just an average Joe or Jill, ponder the possibility. If you are a company rep, no one here has offered you any ideas in such a way that you can't claim them as your own, so go ahead, pass it on to R&D for crying out loud. If you are looking for stock advice, well move along, there's nothing to see here.
So, I think that mostly sums up why there's a new vision here at Groovechicken's Coop. If you are still reading this, then you must either be someone who finds my writing at least mildly entertaining or who has way too little to do with their free time. Either way, welcome. I hope you continue to find a reason to waste space in your Bookmarks or RSS feeds here at the Coop. Make yourself at home and, please, if you must get jiggy on the dance floor, mind the disco ball.
Peace,
Todd
Which leaves me with something that is perhaps just as overdone, but not nearly as well done in as many places as those other types of blogs. That something is analyzing the tech industry on the level of what we have and what we want (we being those of us with some level [or at least a desire to have some level] of computer tech savvy). Perhaps you are immediately thinking of several other blogs that are already doing this and are asking, "Why?!?!?!" Trust me, this will be a little different. I plan to code each post in the subject line by what type of post it is, so you can skip it right away without wasting your time reading half the article first if you do not care about certain types of post.
For instance, when you see a post entitled "Review: Canon MP460" (it's coming, I promise), you can skip it if you don't care for my reviews. Or read it as the case may be. The idea here is that I do not plan to use gimmicks to trick you into reading an entire post if it is not the kind of thing you would normally care to read. I will try and stick to just a few codes / types of post so this doesn't become some rambling diary of tech madness that often graces the caches of our favorite browsers.
Review is self-explanatory. Another you will see is Informer, which will be a post in which I clarify something ambiguous, such as explaining a new technology or buzz-word, exposing a scam or gimmick, or letting you know of something cool that is not getting the press it should. Then there will be Rant. Apparently, some people actually are entertained when I get annoyed and fly off on one of my sarcastic rantings. I will only inflict you with those that received critical acclaim from a live audience first, though, to spare you the uncomfortable moments of wondering whether I truly have lost my mind. There will be others as I think of them, but there is one that you shall see most prominently here, as it is the area I am trying to fill in the most: Forecast.
I really wanted to use Prognosis since it sounds interesting, but I've lost my faith in the American education system and don't expect most people to even know what that means. So, I settled on Forecast, as it captures both sides of the coin. First, it is a prediction of what is to come based on good evidence. Second, it could be just as wrong as the local weatherman (unless you live in the desert where I presume the weatherman is always 100% accurate), so don't base any stock purchases off it.
As I mentioned, my Forecast posts will be based on good evidence... well, mostly. Sometimes, I will have real, concrete facts to back me up. Most of the time, it will just be a combination of logic and observation. You see, everyone is born with some gift that they excel in. For me, it's logic. This is a two-edged sword, by the way, in case you feel a little jealous, but bear with me. This logical acumen gives me some pretty darned good problem-solving skills, but also gives me a good sense of what "should be" when combined with my observational skills. So, I often see clearly how a series of events will unfold just based on the pure logic of it all. Sometimes, I'm even right. Apparently, however, not all people rely strictly on logic when making decisions, so this often causes my little prophecies to blow up when, much to my dismay, people start letting things like emotion and fear become part of the decision-making process. How dare they?
Another aspect of my Forecast posts is that they will sometimes involve upcoming products. Before you move your cursor up to that little "X", let me assure you that I have no plans to make yet another tech rumor site. My product forecasts will have some good reason behind them. Perhaps I may have some insider info from somewhere. Or maybe, they are actually just things I'd like to see and I am presenting them as if they were reported to me as insider info in a clever and elaborate scheme to give advice to companies in such a way that they can actually use it without fear of being sued for stealing my ideas (I call this a good reason because, in general, if I want something, it is so outrageously cool that lots of other people like myself with more money than good sense will also want it). And yet still, maybe St. Isidore of Seville, patron saint of the internet, appears to me from time to time to give me the lowdown on what's shaking in the valley. You just never really know, do you? So, if are just an average Joe or Jill, ponder the possibility. If you are a company rep, no one here has offered you any ideas in such a way that you can't claim them as your own, so go ahead, pass it on to R&D for crying out loud. If you are looking for stock advice, well move along, there's nothing to see here.
So, I think that mostly sums up why there's a new vision here at Groovechicken's Coop. If you are still reading this, then you must either be someone who finds my writing at least mildly entertaining or who has way too little to do with their free time. Either way, welcome. I hope you continue to find a reason to waste space in your Bookmarks or RSS feeds here at the Coop. Make yourself at home and, please, if you must get jiggy on the dance floor, mind the disco ball.
Peace,
Todd
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