Virtual Machine

22/02/06 18:00 Filed in: Computer | SW
The majority of readers will think that IBM entry into personal computing was with the IBM PC in 1981, but my first introduction to IBM’s promotion of personal computing was a few years earlier. I remember attending an IBM personal computing presentation with anticipation, but finding out it was about their VM/CMS capability on their System/370 mainframe. VM stands for virtual machine. CMS is Conversational Monitor System. VM/CMS essentially gave each user their own personal computing environment even though it was on a dumb IBM 3270 terminal in a timesharing mode. I also used IBM’s TSO (Timesharing Option) at the time.

The concept of a Virtual Machine has been around for over 40 years. I was reminded about this while reviewing an upgrade to our VMwareVirtual Machine environment at work this week. Another variation that I use today is Microsoft’s Virtual PC where I can run Windows 98 and Windows XP under Mac OSX on my iMac G5. I also run Windows remote to a system at work through a Citrix ICA client and VPN.

 
wednesday, 22 february 2006 18:00