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Comment Different tools for different jobs (Score 5, Interesting) 361

So I would love to RTFA to make sure about this, but their high-performance web servers running on FreeBSD jails are down, so I can't...

But here's what I do know. FreeBSD hasn't been a supported OS on ESX Server until vSphere came out less than two weeks ago. That means that either:
A) They were running on the Hosted VMware Server product, whose performance is NOT that impressive (it is a Hosted Virtualization product, not a true Hypervisor)
or B) They were running the unsupported OS on ESX Server, which means there was no VMware Tools available. The drivers included in the Tools package vastly improve things like storage and network performance, which means no wonder their performance stunk.

But moreover, Jails (and other OS-virtualization schemes) are different tools entirely - comparing them to VMware is an apples-to-oranges comparison. Parallels Virtuozzo would be a much more apt comparison.

OS-Virtualization has some performance advantages, for sure. But do you want to run Windows and Linux on the same physical server? Sorry, no luck there, you're virtualizing the OS, not virtual machines. Do you want some of the features like live migration, high availability, and now features like Fault Tolerance? Those don't exist yet. I'm sure they will one day, but today they don't, or at least not with the same level of support that VMware has (or Citrix, Oracle or MS).

If you're a company that's trying to do web hosting, or run lots of very very similar systems that do the same, performance-centric task, then yes! OS Virtualization is for you! If you're like 95% of datacenters out there that have mixed workloads, mixed OS versions, and require deep features that are provided from a real system-level virtualization platform, use those.

Disclosure: I work for a VMware and Microsoft reseller, but I also run Parallels Virtuozzo in our lab, where it does an excellent job of OS-Virtualization on Itanium for multiple SQL servers...

Comment The "later version" clause (Score 4, Informative) 95

Existing content contributed to Wikipedia was done under the GFDL license, which like the standard GPLv2 includes a "or later version" clause. Wikipedia's license includes this clause.
The latest version of the GFDL now contains a section I think written to specifically allow Wikimedia to do this. See section 11, "Relicensing" here:
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

The Courts

Italian Red Lights Rigged With Short Yellow Light 353

suraj.sun writes with an excerpt from Ars Technica which brings to mind the importance of auditable code for hardware used in law enforcement: "It's no secret that red light cameras are often used to generate more ticket revenue for the cities that implement them, but a scam has been uncovered in Italy that has led to one arrest and 108 investigations over traffic systems being rigged to stop sooner for the sole purpose of ticketing more motorists."
Windows

Why Use Virtual Memory In Modern Systems? 983

Cyberhwk writes "I have a system with Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit) installed on it, and it has 4GB of RAM. However when I've been watching system performance, my system seems to divide the work between the physical RAM and the virtual memory, so I have 2GB of data in the virtual memory and another 2GB in the physical memory. Is there a reason why my system should even be using the virtual memory anymore? I would think the computer would run better if it based everything off of RAM instead of virtual memory. Any thoughts on this matter or could you explain why the system is acting this way?"

Comment VMware's vClient initiative (Score 3, Informative) 90

For those of you thinking that this is a solution in search of a problem, let me outline where VMware is going with this.
At VMworld this year, Paul Maritz (VMware CEO) outlined their strategy for the future of the desktop - a world where users are given access to applications and data regardless of the end device. Today we see desktops as more device-centric, rather than people centric. VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) is a step in the direction of device-independence. It doesn't matter if I'm at work, at home, or on the road, I can get to the same desktop, applications, and data.
But going forward VMware is looking at delivering the entire desktop steamed down as a VM to a "client hypervisor", so instead of viewing as it runs remotely in a datacenter, the data is streamed down and processed locally so there's no lag induced by a high-latency link or something like that.
This works great for ordinary PCs or x86-based thin clients. Where VMware is going is taking their hypervisor layer and moving it to the mobile device, so that a user can get their same desktop (or a subset of its functionality) even from their PDA/smartphone. That's the purpose of this technology long term - it's not so you can run Android in a VM on your iPhone.

The Internet

No IPv6 For UK Broadband Users 298

BT (the incumbent telephone company in the United Kingdom) are in the process of spending millions of pounds on upgrading their network to an all-IP core. However, they have failed to consider 21st Century protocol support, preferring to insist that IPv4 is enough for everyone. Haven't they noticed the IPv4 exhaustion report yet?
Cellphones

EU Wants Removable Batteries In iPhones 320

MojoKid writes "Current regulation, introduced with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) in July of 2006, primarily sought to prevent the unnecessary use of toxic metals in batteries as well as making it easier to recycle and dispose of used batteries. The updated 'New Batteries Directive,' as discussed in New Electronics by Gary Nevision, would go much further. Article 11 of the directive, as currently written, would require that devices must be made in such a way as to allow batteries, either for replacement or at end of life for disposal to be 'readily removed.' Of course, Apple's iPhones and iPods wouldn't meet this requirement, as it stands. It's obvious that an iPhone battery replacement program could be considered a cash cow for Apple as well."
Transportation

Qantas Blames Wireless For Aircraft Incidents 773

musther writes "An Australian airline Qantas Airbus A330-300, suffered 'a sudden change of altitude' on Tuesday. "The mid-air incident resulted in injuries to 74 people, with 51 of them treated by three hospitals in Perth for fractures, lacerations and suspected spinal injuries when the flight bound from Singapore to Perth had a dramatic drop in altitude that hurled passengers around the cabin." Now it seems Qantas is seeking to blame interference from passenger electronics, and it's not the first time; 'In July, a passenger clicking on a wireless mouse mid-flight was blamed for causing a Qantas jet to be thrown off course.' Is there any precedent for wireless electronics interfering with aircraft systems? Interfering with navigation instruments is one thing, but causing changes in the 'elevator control system' — I would be quite worried if I thought the aircraft could be flown with a bluetooth mouse."

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