VM Enables ‘Write-Once, Run Anywhere’ Linux Apps

A startup plans to release a kind of holy software grail the third or fourth week of June. Lina said its dual-licensed Lina virtual Linux machine will run more or less normal Linux applications under Windows, Mac or Linux, with a look and feel native to each. The concept recalls Java, which has long promised write once, run anywhere compatibility. As with Java, Lina users will first install a VM specific to their platform, after which they can run binaries compiled not for their particular OS, but for the VM, which aims to hide OS-specific characteristics from the application