A few days ago, we published an overview of virtualization from the desktop user’s perspective.  As a follow-up, we’ll use this post to discuss some of the most popular virtualization tools for Ubuntu workstations and laptops.

We’ve written a lot lately about Ubuntu and virtualization in recent weeks, especially on the server.  Lest we leave desktop users out in the cold, I’d like to take a look at the current virtualization scene on the desktop, with comparisons of the major virtualization solutions and where they’re headed in the future.

One of the coolest features of Ubuntu on servers is vmbuilder, which makes it super-easy to roll out guest machines.  Here’s a look at this tool, and some thoughts on where it fits in to Ubuntu’s enterprise strategy.

As we wrote recently, KVM has a lot to recommend it as a virtualization solution in Ubuntu 10.04, especially in the server room.  But how ready is it for the desktop, and can it contend with applications like VirtualBox when it comes to ease-of-use?  Read on for a comparison of two of the Ubuntu world’s most popular virtualization products, and some thoughts on which one is better for desktop users.

One of the areas in which open-source software has truly come into its own during the last few years is virtualization.  The latest LTS release of Ubuntu, which offers a variety of Free virtualization solutions, makes this abundantly clear.  Below, we take a look at some of those options, with a focus on KVM, and consider their meaning for Ubuntu users.

Ubuntu 10.04’s release last month brought a number of much-discussed changes to desktops.  But the latest LTS (Long Term Support) release also marked an important milestone for Ubuntu Server Edition.  Here’s a look at Ubuntu 10.04 on servers, with some thoughts on what works well and where there’s room for improvement.

Cloud computing, the latest and greatest trend of the IT world, has become a central element of Ubuntu’s server strategy.  With this development in mind, I’ve given some thought lately to how much of my electronic life actually depends on access to “the cloud.”

After placing its bets for years on Xen, Red Hat moved recently towards official support for KVM, the virtualization hypervisor built into the Linux kernel.  Here’s a look at what this change might mean for Ubuntu, which has promoted KVM from the beginning.

Improving boot time has been a focus of Ubuntu developers in recent releases, with the goal of a ten-second startup set for Ubuntu 10.4.  To test progress thus far, I compared boot performance for Ubuntu 8.04, 9.04 and 9.10.  Below are the results, which demonstrate the impressive strides that have been made thus far towards a faster boot.

After a month of debate and experimentation, my employer has made the decision to use the open-source KVM virtualization infrastructure for migrating IT resources to a virtualized environment.  Below, I discuss why we chose KVM over its (mostly proprietary) alternatives.