[gobolinux-users] Application virtualization and GoboLinux

[Samuel A. Falvo II]

On 8/28/07, Rayne Van-Dunem <raynenamibia at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi, haven't posted here in a bit. I just wanted to ask a question in regards
> to the application virtualization/ streaming idea that's being implemented
> by klik, 0install, and other virtual machines, and how it may relate to
> GoboLinux.

I don't consider 0install, AppDirs, or anything like that as instances
of virtual machines; rather, I see them purely as packaging
technologies.

> Now, I have very little evidence to back this assumption up, but I think
> that OS X's Aqua layer was the first consumer usage of application
> virtualization, in which NeXT's bundles (similar to ROX's AppDirs) were
> virtualized to work only within the Aqua layer, and not on the core Darwin
> OS; the same goes for their HFS+, which I doubt that you'd see as the
> default file system in Darwin.

Actually, MacOS's filesystem, from the very first on up through HFS+,
has always been engineered so that applications can be launched
regardless of what folder they appeared in.  I'd therefore have to say
that MacOS System 1's filesystem was the first.

> corporate world, I do think that it's inevitable that virtualization will
> catch on, just further down the road.

Are we talking about real virtualization here, or simply "live"
packaging systems?

> What do you think? Is that something that you could see happening in the
> future?

I guess I just don't see the problem that software like Klik solves.
If I install a program, it is for ME to use, not someone else.  So,
why would I use klik to share my installation?

Maybe I'm just not understanding.

-- 
Samuel A. Falvo II