Microsoft's Hyper-V 3.0 coming to Windows 8?

Microsoft is slipping its Hyper-V virtualization software into the forthcoming Windows 8, according to a report. WindowsNow.com blogger Robert McLaws writes that he has uncovered code for Hyper-V version 3.0 in a leaked, early build of the Windows 8 code base. McLaws has spotted a number of enhancements in Microsoft's …

[Arctic fox]

Nice if true.

If the virtualization works smoothly without the "treacle effect" then MS will have solved one of their biggest challenges with any major changes/improvements in the fundamental architecture of Windows in Win8. IE. How to keep legacy customers on-board. Two question remain, can they implement it really well and will they ensure that it works in *all* versions of Win8 - not just some high-priced "business/ultimate edition".

[WR]

Use case

I'd love to be able to have a core desktop that is lite and tuned for productivity, then crack open a VDI sandbox for gaming, trialing software,visiting sites of ill repute and so forth.

[A J Stiles]

This is what Windows needs

This is actually what the next version of Windows needs, if it's to remain relevant.

Windows is becoming more secure by design, but there's a hell of a lot of legacy software out there that takes advantage of the very same historical insecurity-by-design exploited by malware. The only way to reconcile those situations, short of a highly-impractical major rewrite, is to run each process in its own separate VM with its own virtualised hardware subset. It's horribly inelegant, and smacks of keeping rice from sticking by boiling each grain in a separate pan -- but CPU cycles are cheap now and adequacy, not perfection, is what wins out in the end.

Per-process VMs will at least allow people to carry on running insecure legacy software without the fear of malware infestation. If and when they eventually get it rewritten properly, it may well still end up being rewritten for Windows only. Which is what Microsoft are banking on.