Ubuntu strips off for virtualisation

Ubuntu sponsor Canonical is touting a version of its Linux software stripped down for use just on virtualised environments.

The version, called Jeos for 'Just Enough Operating System' and pronounced "juice", is now available, Canonical announced at the VMworld conference in San Francisco.

The version is intended to be a more compact and higher-performance foundation for virtual machine "appliances" that bundle the operating system with higher-level software. Virtualisation lets operating systems and higher-level software run in compartments called virtual machines (VMs), and those VMs can be stopped, started, saved to disk and moved from one computer to another.

At VMworld, software maker Business Objects demonstrated an appliance built atop Jeos, the company said.

In other news of partnerships between the virtualisation and open source realms, VMware announced a project called Open Virtual Machine Tools. The open source code can be used to improve the performance and features of virtual machines, according to the company.

Stephen Shankland writes for CNET News.com