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Re: [Xen-devel] Microsoft plans 'hypervisor' for Longhorn

Could Apple's x86 switch require Intel VT too? The one year delay
lines up with VT availability.  Requiring Intel VT would probably lock
out all existing machines since it would be difficult to emulate on
existing chips. Intel VT specific shuts out AMD which matches their
announcement.

I guess... But OTOH, it'll probably take that long to get the 3rd party developers up to speed, develop and launch new machines, etc. so it could be coincidence I suppose.

The simple reason for requiring VT is to get MS Windows app support.
Windows would run in another VM. A virtual graphics card would then
make it appear inside the Mac display. Running an SMB server
internally allows partitions to be shared. Daemons in each OS could
export the clipboard over a virtual network to make DND work and do
things like mouse handoff.

The ability to do that sort of thing is (IMHO) one of the big wins of moving to x86, as far as Apple is concerned.

Any rumors of Apple working on a hypervisor?

I haven't heard any. It'd make good sense, though. OTOH, I guess they might have talked to VMWare - the VMWare workstation product would also be a good fit.

Of course if they do use a hypervisor they should really use Xen ;-) Who knows, perhaps they're secretly working on this - stranger things have happened.

Cheers,
Mark

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