Will Virtualization Stop the Mess That is Windows?

Microsoft Windows is a big mess on the inside. It is getting worse and worse as time passes. But, Microsoft has a chance to make things better by using virtualization, a computer technology that very popular right now. Virtualization is a way of letting a single computer run more than one operating system at the same time. For example, it could be Windows and Linux, Windows XP and Windows Vista, or two Windows XPs each configured differently.

Each time Microsoft comes out with a new version of Windows, a lot of support for old programs is included. From one perspective, it is a smart financial decision. Why would Microsoft want to make all of your current software unusable and force companies to rewrite all of their programs? From another perspective, Windows just keeps getting bigger, more complex, and buggier as time passes. That is bad for Microsoft and users alike.

Microsoft could start from a clean slate by letting virtualization be the method of supporting old programs. It is completely a question of will, not can, Microsoft go this route. I cannot predict if it will happen; but, I do have one big fear: that Microsoft will screw it up by bringing along too much baggage from the current Windows in a misguided attempt to make it easy for companies to write programs for the new Windows (or whatever name Microsoft chooses for its new operating system).