Steve Jobs has always been considered a high tech guru. He lead the IT revolution with a passion that few people could deny. So why isn’t he pushing Apple to get behind virtualization?

VMware is currently working on a version of their Workstation product that would allow you to run other operating systems like Windows and Linux on top of Mac OS X. However, they won’t allow Mac OS X to be run inside a virtual machine.

http://www.arstechnica.com/ reports:

As a followup to that statement from Parallels, I was able to also get in touch with Srinivas Krishnamurti, VMWare’s Director of Product Management and Market Development in order to get VMWare’s official position on the matter. Previously, the company indicated that they might perhaps give into temptation and allow users to run OS X in a virtual machine on non-Apple hardware despite what Apple thinks, but Krishnamurti says that’s not so. “Apple does not currently allow running Mac OS X in a virtual machine,” he said. “Apple is an important partner and VMware respects Apple’s intellectual property.”

Apparently Apple is afraid that if they allow OS X to run in a VM, then nobody will buy MacBooks anymore. As it is, most people don’t think of Apple as a computer company but as a consumer electronics company. In fact, when a friend of mine left Dell to work for Apple a few years ago it was to “become an iPod salesman”. (His words.)

This is really a sad development for me. Although I’ve never been a “Mac guy”, I’ve always respected their products. I’ve also always thought Steve Jobs was an amazing visionary. Seeing Apple take a stand against virtualization is kinda sad.