Opinion and Commentary:
I support java and .NET when it is a business requirement, and I do not fault businesses for using Virtual Machine (VM) computer applications, nor do I fault VM makers nor VM users. A VM is simply a computer application of a make believe PC, like a word processor is a computer application of a make believe typewriter or spreadsheet is a computer application of a make believe adding machine, etc. However, personally I prefer my A.I. research to run full power with direct access to a real computer system through PHP, Perl, C/C++, Prolog, Lisp, etc. Why would I want to limit my A.I. research to indirect computer access through some VM computer application programmed by someone else working for the VM maker ? Am I only allowed to make A.I. discoveries preapproved by the VM maker? Should I not mind if VM makers extract patterns and practices from my custom computer programming, and add them to their VM, without giving me any credit for my ideas and methods I come up with?
That would simply take the fun out of A.I. research. I feel discouraged and alienated, when I realize someone else is doing everything for me on the computer whenever I use a VM. Besides, unless you happen to be very poor, living in the slums, and there is no shame in that… Why worry about virtual machines when real machine computer systems are already dirt cheap these days? Should I be concerned for security? Well, on Linux and Unix there are no computer viruses to worry about. Most people seem to be in denial that a PC surfing the web with no anti-virus software installed is even possible. Despite, the Mac guy (running OSX Unix) claiming in a TV commercial, “We don’t get those things” to the PC guy.
I rebuilt an IBM BL (Before Lenovo) Pentium 4 Thinkpad laptop, from eBay parts for $40 bucks. I souped it up with free ubuntu linux apache mysql php perl and other cool computer programming and all sorts of other cool techie stuff for free. That’s why personally I find limiting my A.I. research to one VM computer application, too restrictive to express my delight and curiosity for Artificial Intelligence.