Ubuntu Server reminds us of the Xenix, UnixWare, and even early SunOS and Solaris version that were targeted toward VARs and vertical market 'solutions' platforms. There are a lot of choices that arrive in the Ubuntu distribution, and it's based on Debian, which is known to be less experimental than other Linux distributions. It's fast, utilitarian, and among the first Linux distros to link to clouds and clusters using standard components. Ubuntu Server's not so much lightweight, as just a little loose and fast in places.

VMware vSphere 4.0 touches on almost every aspect of managing a virtual infrastructure, from ESX host provisioning to virtual network management to backup and recovery of virtual machines. Time will tell whether these features are as solid as they need to be in this release, but their presence is a substantial step forward for virtual environments.

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope brings minor cosmetic and UI enhancements to this easy-to-use desktop distribution. On the downside, installation was marred by some missteps, and hardware support remains mixed. Highlights include new versions of OpenOffice.org and Gnome, as well as a new desktop notification feature.

It's way too early to make a proper assessment of Windows 7, but Microsoft has made its intentions clear: Windows 7 is intended to right the wrongs Vista wrought, but retain that operating system's good points. And at this point, we can't argue with that. Our early beta tests suggest that the OS will be quicker than Vista, which can only be a good thing. We'll be updating this review as we get more information on and time with Windows 7, so be sure to bookmark this page.

All in all, VMware View is a functional VDI implementation with more than a few quirks and foibles.

This is not available as a separate product but is part of Microsoft's software assurance progam (itself part of the desktop optimisation pack). As such, it's hard to give specific advice save to say that Microsoft has missed a trick not delivering this as a product and that the company needs to sort its desktop strategy out.

SLED, with all of its Microsoft integration, isn't a Linux for free software purists. But it is a desktop Linux distro that makes a fine drop-in replacement for Windows at most offices. Why would you want to do that? Because while there are some things that Windows users take for granted, such as being locked into Microsoft's document formats, there are security threats, such as Conficker, that could destroy a business. If you want Windows compatibility, but you'd prefer a cheaper and more stable and secure alternative, then SLED 11 is the desktop operating system for you.

The only thing that might put you off is that virtuals are platform-specific - that is, you can only run Linux virtuals on Linux hosts and Windows ones on Windows hosts. But we really don't think that's a huge problem, since the majority of virtualised installations have multiple physical servers anyway - which means you just have to think about what host OS to install on each physical server

It's way too early to make a proper assessment of Windows 7, but Microsoft has made its intentions clear: Windows 7 is intended to right the wrongs Vista wrought, but retain that operating system's good points. And at this point, we can't argue with that. We'll be updating this review as we get more information on and time with Windows 7, so be sure to bookmark this page.

Google Android is an exciting development in the world of mobile operating systems. It's not so much what it can do right now, as what the world's application developers can create when they get their hands on the code.

Xandros will no doubt offend Linux purists, both by the tight integration of commercial software into its business model and by the lack of features such as Gnome. On the other hand, for a Linux newbie who wants a Windows-like experience, it may make a reasonable choice.

Citrix has long been the leader in the terminal services/remote desktop game. Its ICA protocol is heads and shoulders above alternatives, and the manageability of its solutions continues to be strong. By coupling this existing technology with VDI, Citrix aims for the best of both worlds, delivering streaming and hosted applications to a small-footprint desktop VM. XenServer still lags the capabilities of the VMware ESX hypervisor, but XenDesktop does not require XenServer to function and will play nice with VMware and even Microsoft Hyper-V.

We're impressed with FreeNAS. Windows Home Server has more media-friendly capabilities such as Xbox 360 connectivity, but if you are looking to set up a basic NAS box using your existing hardware, for free, FreeNAS is well worth a spin.

VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 2 is certainly a beta release, but even so, it feels quite polished and well appointed. VMware has some heavy competition in Parallels, which has most of these features already, but Fusion 2.0 looks very promising.

Microsoft's attempt at toppling VMware VI3 is chock-full of classic embrace-and-extend goodness, including support in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (tested in beta) for managing VI3 assets. The Hyper-V hypervisor technology is sound and should scale well enough to challenge VMware's ESX Server. However, Microsoft still lags in the area of high availability, though the functionality in Virtual Machine Manager should be good enough to deliver wins in less demanding virtualization environments.