One year ago, almost on the day, we reached the half million mark.

Today, we have passed the million. That's right, there are now more than one million virtual machines created by EasyVMX out there!

Thanks to everybody using this service.

An extra special thank you goes to those of you who have donated and kept this site alive. I couldn't have done it without you!

Today, Monday, February 11, 2008, virtual machine number 500.000 was created by EasyVMX!

I can safely say that this never happened before. Now, join me on the quest for the first million!

Happy new year to everybody!

Frustrated by the fact that I'm trying to kick the habit of using moist snuff (or in Swedish, snus), I have done a small design tweak.

The inside of the Virtual Machine Creators (EasyVMX!, SuperSimple and v2.0) has never really looked very well. This is an attempt to make it look a little better.

The two pictures above show the change from worse to better.

(By the way, if you're wondering... The snus quitting is not a new year's resolution, it's just taken more time than I thought it would. :( )

I promised you new EasyVMX! features to match the abilities of VMware Player 2.0.
All the new features are now completed, and you can find EasyVMX! 2.0 here!

Here's the complete list of new features:

• Windows Vista is no longer "Experimental"
• Default guest OS is Windows Vista
• Virtual Hardware version is 6 (Workstation 6)
• Sound is autodetected, and will work in Vista
• SVGA is autodetected, and will set the resolution automatically when resizing VMware
• The new enhanced virtual keyboard setting is on by default
• VMware Tools will be upgraded at power on
• Default when turning off a virtual machine is suspend (snapshot)
• Ability to reserve CDROM exclusively to the Virtual machine
• Wake-on-LAN for both network cards
• Shared Folder
• VNC - Remote Display
• Options for PowerOn and PowerOff
• The GuestOS list has been updated^*
• Tip: For better performance in Vista virtual machines, use SCSI disks

EasyVMX! 2.0 has not been fully tested, so use it with caution.

^*Only the new list of GuestOSes has made it to the stable version of EasyVMX! yet.

VMware Player 2.0 is here. It includes full Vista support, and you get VMware Tools.
This means that there are bound to be some changes in EasyVMX! too.

This is a work in progress, and it is by no means finished yet.
If you are feeling adventurous, you can try the new EasyVMX! here.

I would very much like to receive reports on how these functions are working for you. Please report back in the forum.

If you expect everything to have completely changed, you are in for a bit of disappointment. That said, here are the new features:

• Windows Vista is no longer "Experimental"
• Default guest OS is Windows Vista
• Sound is autodetected, and will work in Vista
• SVGA is autodetected, and will set the resolution automatically when resizing VMware
• The new enhanced virtual keyboard setting is on by default
• VMware Tools will be upgraded at power on
• Default when turning off a virtual machine is suspend (snapshot)
• Tip: For better performance in Vista virtual machines, use SCSI disks

Planned features are (but not limited to):

• Shared folders
• Wake-On-Lan
• Remote connection (VNC)
• Actions on power on or off

When all the changes are done (and tested), this will become the new EasyVMX!

The firmware for the wireless routers WRT54G/GS is based on Linux, and the GPL demands that you have to share your source code.

After this code was released a lot of third pary firmwares popped up.

One of the major third party firmwares is OpenWRT. Not only modifying the original firmware, but actually rewriting most of it from scratch. While this certainly makes OpenWRT stand out from the crowd, one of the really unique things it can offer is a writable file system.

OpenWRT supports an amazing range of hardware. The "bleeding edge" version of OpenWRT (the Kamikaze) is broadening the hardware support even further.

Since OpenWRT is Linux it should run on a standard PC, right? Absolutely right. But then, who would sacrifice a computer to run wireless router software?

Enter EasyVMX!. The OpenWRT team used EasyVMX! to create an OpenWRT/Kamikaze virtual appliance, and they show you how to roll your own too.

(Now, I really hope they don't mind that I'm using DD-WRT on my WRT-54G...)

Every now and again, it just so happens that I get what I would like to think is a good idea.
Sometimes, it turns out that the idea just pretended to be good, other times I don't have the resources to see it through.

But this is not one of those times.
I got a good idea and I acted on it.

I was thinking. What if you were making a virtual machine, and you want to burn it to a CD or a DVD.
You need a machine that will fit nicely on that CD or DVD of course!

This is why the default disk size in EasyVMX! and in the Super Simple Edition has changed to 4.7GB. And that's why you also will find a choice for a 700MB CD sized disk image.

Actually, the images are a little bit smaller, just so you can fit the other files of your virtual machine on that disc too.

The virtual machine will not really be usable running from a CD or a DVD, but this can come in handy when you want to take a backup of the machine or copy it to another location.

I'll be the first to admit that the EasyVMX! site needed a make-over.
And I'm now proud to admit that the make-over has taken place!

The most important news (at least it is to me) is that the whole layout is now CSS based.
Why is this important? For one, it will be soooooo much easier to make changes. The look and feel should also be more consistent between browsers and platforms.

The design is not radically different, you may not even have noticed it.

Here are the major changes:

As I went through my webserver logs today, I noticed an increase in traffic to EasyVMX!.

It turns out that Linux.com is running a story on Desktop Virtualization with VMware Player and Workstation, and my little pet project suddenly got a little more attention.

Oh, and I wasn't aware of rPath.
rPath's software rBuilder is another tool to create virtual machines it seems.

However, I must say I'm a little disappointed.
Robert and Ulli's excellent VMX Builder was not mentioned, even though Linux.com have had an entire article about VMX Builder earlier.

Will 2007 be the year when virtualization has it's big break-through?
Some might argue that virtualization is already in it's prime, but is it really accessible to the general public?

People using Linux have been exposed to virtualization for a long time. But Linux is not so widespread as one would wish for.

Windows users who wish to try Linux are often virtualization users too. It's a great way to get your feet wet, without having to sacrifice your Windows install.

What's happening right now, is that there is a rising number of Mac users. These are converts to the new Intel Macs, which has the benefit of being able to run Windows natively through Boot Camp.

Many of these people depend on some piece of Windows software one way or the other, but rebooting your machine for one or two applications is not really what you'd like to do.

This is, in my opinion, the great portal to virtualization for the masses.
A few people used the old, clunky Virtual PC for Mac. Now that the Macs have Intels inside, there are a few alternatives that will give you close to native speed on your Windows install. Without rebooting!

The advent of new chips from Intel and AMD, providing Intel VT and AMD V virtualization layers can only further help virtualization on its way to broader adoptation.

Read more about the different virtualization platforms for Mac, Windows and Linux below.