Open Virtualization Alliance Grows at Robert Pogson

It appears that KVM, the Linux kernel’s built-in virtualization, has become mainstream with the Open Virtualization Alliance now having 200 members. Started by HP, IBM, Intel and RedHat the Alliance seeks to promote and standardize KVM and associated tools so that price/performance and competition thrives.

I used KVM to make videos and found it quite solid for what I do, running a few virtual machines for testing new software. If businesses find the same reliability they will use it widely for virtual servers and cloud computing. This should stimulate growth of GNU/Linux on servers and desktop where virtual desktops are employed.

I can’t wait for my new motherboard to arrive so I can exploit KVM again. For $50 I can install a new motherboard that supports a CPU, RAM and storage that really can use KVM well. I can run several virtual machines at once and create a virtual “anything” in the way of systems to test, saving me huge capital expenditure and keeping space and power requirements minimal.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.

2 Responses to “Open Virtualization Alliance Grows”

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1 Ivan Oct 10th, 2011 at 8:38 am

KVM doesn’t allow you to see how bad Unity is. It’s Red Hat’s “I can has virtualization too” project and it shows in its lack of polish and useful features.
2 Robert Pogson Oct 10th, 2011 at 10:36 am

RedHat is well known for clustering and routine servery. This about completes their stack. I have no doubt that sufficient useful features exist to make it widely useful now. With contributions from these players, that will only improve. It’s at the stage where it is more useful than VirtualBox so ease of use is not an issue, I don’t want my virtual machines polished as much as I want them to run faster than real machines.