As virtualization on the desktop becomes more and more common, largely thanks to VMWare and Parallels, open-source projects are also adopting virtualization. VirtualBox appeared as the amazing program no one had heard of but everyone used, the choice of open-source virtualization software is huge, and distros are starting to include virtualization built-in. The latest to do so is Ubuntu, which will ship Hardy Heron with a front end to the already included KVM easily available, according to Phoronix. (The packages are not new, but rather they come from Fedora, just FYI.)

While simply making already existing software easily available may not seem like a big deal, it can open up a lot of potential. A lot of people are tied to Windows for a single program. While the long term solution is to find an alternative, it is often easier to set up a dual boot system or use virtualization. This is already very simple for a user familiar with Linux, but it would be great if a new user could be prompted on the first boot up to see if they want to set up a virtual machine. This could be implemented either by Ubuntu or by a company like Dell. With virtualization software right at hand, Dell could make a little modification to the Ubuntu they ship such that users would be prompted to set up a virtual machine if they wanted, hopefully making people feel safer buying a Linux computer, knowing they can easily run Windows programs if they need to.

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