I noticed I have a Hyper-V option in the add/remove Windows features dialog. Luckily, the system I'm using is a Core i5, so it is compatible. I installed it and two reboots later, I have a fully functional Hyper-V on my Windows Pro machine. It appears to be as complete as the version included with Windows Server 2012 and will be great for a traveling sales or tech personnel who need to have a complete demo/testing network available to them in the hotel room. Also great for testing new ideas locally with no chance of hosing the production Hyper-V machine. Your thoughts?
If either my Desktop or Laptop had compatible CPUs I'd be upgrading to Windows 8. But I'd be upgrading to able to use Hyper-V instead of the combination of Virtual PC and Virtual Box that I use now.
Wow, does this mean that we don't need VMware any more? That'd be great. But first, we need to have Windows 8. When W8 becomes polular, everything will be ....
Define *server-class hardware* first off. If you mean enterprise-class server hardware, say so; the differences otherwise between non-enterprise server hardware and desktop hardware are pretty darn minimal, and have been for almost a decade, if not longer. Second, Server 2012, like Server 2008R2, can be used as a semi-workstation OS by adding the Desktop Experience feature set. (Like Server 2008R2, in fact, the Desktop Experience feature set makes Server 2012 no less usable *as* a server - depending on the server's role, the Desktop Experience feature set could make some roles *easier* - for example, the Hyper-V Administrator's role.) Third, the differences between Hyper-V in Windows 8 and Hyper-V in all versions of Windows Server since the introduction of the feature set in Server 2003 stem from a single feature - EPT/SLAT. Windows 8 requires it - Windows Server, while it supports it, doesn't require it. Fourth, the hardware requirements for Windows 8 and Windows Server changed not a whit from their immediate predecessors (Windows 7 and Server 2008, including 2008R2). Hence, Hyper-V is supported on hardware that doesn't support Hyper-V on Windows 8, due to Server 2008R2 (and Server 2012) not requiring SLAT. (For instance, no LGA775 CPU supports SLAT.) Last (and this is critical), Hyper-V does not preclude usage of other virtualization methods - either instead of or alongside Hyper-V. (Example: I currently have KMS micro 3.10 running alongside my Hyper-V Windows 8 VM; yes, both are running at once.) This opens up a LOT of possibilities - especially in terms of training, not to mention deployment.
Except for the EPT/SLAT requirement (unique to Windows 8 clients, by the by), the two SHOULD be identical, as Hyper-V in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 are, quite literally, the same otherwise. (Windows Server 2008R2 and 2012 can *leverage* EPT, but don't need it.) As Windows 7 made VT-x support ubiquitous (with a ton of help form Intel and AMD); apparently, Microsoft (and Intel at least) is trying to do the same with EPT. Looking at just the LGA1155 CPU lineup, it's not JUST the i-series that supports EPT; it reaches down into the cut-down (Pentium G and Celeron G) lines as well - in fact, all the way to their floor. Just for lulz, I looked up the specs on both the Celeron G550 and newer-generation Celeron G1610 (the Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge-derived Celeron baselines, respectively, for desktops). Turned out the lulz were on me; both support not just VT-x (as expected), but EPT as well.