Qubes beta 1 released

Well where have you all been hiding? I've been feeling like the only one.

"I've also been saying that as more features are added to virtual machine environments, our systems are going to end up with the very same problems we already have."

Exactly: the chief reason these "appliances" have been fine is because they have been disparate services which typically don't need to communicate. As people start to require these appliances to communicate, we're going to find developers having to break holes in the walls and the same problems appearing.

I find the funniest thing to be all these companies who are switching their infrastructure to VMware are effectively switching themselves back to a proprietary platform.

Or maybe the funniest thing is that the fashionable interchangeable interface for running self contained applications in 2011 involves emulation of an Intel 8259.