Virtual Appliances

I have been playing with VMWare for about a month, exploring the possibilities. As long as four years ago, I began to think that there was a way to use open source to provide service to my client. For example, I imagined providing a client with a CRM package on a server that would be installed in their offices, or located offsite with an ISP. The idea was that my client could continue using Windows based software, including a browser like Internet Explorer, and it would not matter to them that the CRM package was running on Linux and used the Apache web server.

I can see all sorts of uses for Virtualization, and I am very attracted to the idea of virtual appliances. The latest one that has caught my attention is the Zimbra appliance, a collaboration suite. Check it out at Zimbra.