There are many opinions in the air about the impact that virtualization has on performance, so I thought a short blog would be good to explain (as best I can) virtual machine performance characteristics with pointers to relevant benchmarks and technical papers.

My background is that I was an early Product Manager working on VMware ESX Server (from version 1.5) and among other things ran product management for VMware for a few years. As a product management guy, I kept track of the output of the engineering performance group, and as a result had a reasonable high level (although never code level) understanding of the whys and wherefores of virtualization performance. Although I’m not as fresh on virtualization as I once was, I’ll try to do my best here. I also want to thank Steve Herrod at VMware, and Simon Crosby at Citrix for providing a technical sanity check on the blog contents, although I retain responsibility for any mistakes and oversights.

If you've installed the recently released "Service Pack 2" (SP2) for
Windows XP, you have automatically installed a new firewall on your
PC that might be blocking VNC connections. To create an "exception"
for VNC, follow these instructions:

   1. Click Start, click Run, type Wscui.cpl, and then click OK to open 
      Windows Firewall.
   2. Click the Exceptions tab, and de-select the "Don't Allow Exceptions"
      radio-button.
   3. Click Add Port to display the Add a Port dialog box.
   4. Enter port number "5900" or whatever port you've got VNC on that
      PC to listen on (port number = 5900 + "VNC Display Number").
   5. Select the TCP protocol.
   6. In the Name field, type "VNC".
   7. Click Change Scope to view or to set the scope for the port 
      exception, and then click OK.
   8. Click OK to close the Add a Port dialog box.
   
That should do it! More info here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=875357#7

Amazon.com: Virtualization For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)): Bernard Golden: Books

Cool, but not as cool as an MSX Z-80 in Java*Script* http://jsmsxdemo.googlepages.com/jsmsx.html via http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Architecture-Leading-Thinkers-Software/dp/059651798X

"Bloomfield admits he's getting in on the act on a personal level and has forged an ongoing agreement with two Second Life-based stock exchanges, the International Stock Exchange and the SL Capital Exchange (formerly AVIX) that will provide him with comprehensive data on trading histories for all listed firms. He expects to publish analyses of that data in the near future and says such information could very well be another important step toward transparency. In the end, Bloomflield says SL's financial and business sector can teach us a lot about the nature of regulation and oversight. Even with the unfortunate case of Ginko, he still believes the intervention of real-world regulation is remote. "I am really hoping that RL (real life) regulation does not come to SL because right now SL has the chance to sort out what type of oversight and regulation it wants," Bloomfield said. "If the RL authorities or Linden Lab do start meddling with business affairs, it could ruin a golden opportunity for real innovation and creativity, a chance to recreate a world in a new image." "