What is virtualization?

[Nils Kassube]

Default User wrote:
> I have been hearing virtualization being mentioned more and more
> recently.  I don't really know much about it.  Would someone please
> give a simple "Cliff's Notes" (TM) version of what it is, how it works,
> and why anyone would bother to use it at all.

See <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualization> for an explanation much 
better than I could give you with my own words.

Why use it? With virtualization using e.g. Vmware or Virtualbox, you can 
run other Linux distributions or Windows at the same time on the same 
machine. This is a nice option to test cross platform applications during 
development.


Nils