The Reality of Virtualization
Macs are the only computers that allow you to run Mac OS X along with Windows and Linux. Virtual machines on non-Apple PCs can't run Mac OS X. Apple doesn't permit running Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware in its user license agreement, so the virtualization software makers don't enable it.
Figure 4-1 shows a Mac running two virtual machines — Lion Server (left) and Windows 7 (right). Both are running on a Mac OS X host). In each virtual machine window, you can control that operating system as you normally would run applications, configure settings, and access the Internet. When the virtual machine is a server, users on the network access it as they would any other server. If multiple virtual machines run on a server Mac, the users see each as a separate server.
Figure 4-1 Windows 7 and Lion Server running in virtual machines in Snow Leopard.
For the latest news, tips, and troubleshooting information about running virtual machines on Macs, visit MacWindows (www.macwindows.com), a website I've been running since 1997.
How virtualization works
With virtualization, there's a host operating system (OS) and one or more guest OSes. The host OS (in this book, Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server) boots the real computer. On a Mac, a guest OS can be Mac OS X, Windows, ...
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