(12) INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY (PCT)
(19) World Intellectual Property Organization
International Bureau
(10) International Publication Number
(43) International Publication Date \ r 1 /1 A
13 October 2011 (13.10.2011) / / / A Z
(51) International Patent Classification: tional Patents, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washing
G06F 9/44 (2006.01) ton 98052-6399 (US).
(21) International Application Number: (81) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every
PCT/US201 1/030053 kind of national protection available): AE, AG, AL, AM,
AO, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BH, BR, BW, BY, BZ,
(22) International Filing Date: CA, CH, CL, CN, CO, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DK, DM, DO,
25 March 201 1 (25.03.201 1) DZ, EC, EE, EG, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, GT,
(25) Filing Language: English HN, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IS, JP, KE, KG, KM, KN, KP,
KR, KZ, LA, LC, LK, LR, LS, LT, LU, LY, MA, MD,
(26) Publication Language: English ME, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MY, MZ, NA, NG, NI,
(30) Priority Data: NO, NZ, OM, PE, PG, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, RU, SC, SD,
12/754,623 6 April 2010 (06.04.2010) US SE, SG, SK, SL, SM, ST, SV, SY, TH, TJ, TM, TN, TR,
TT, TZ, UA, UG, US, UZ, VC, VN, ZA, ZM, ZW.
(71) Applicant (for all designated States except US): MI¬
CROSOFT CORPORATION [US/US]; One Microsoft (84) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every
Way, Redmond, Washington 98052-6399 (US). kind of regional protection available): ARIPO (BW, GH,
GM, KE, LR, LS, MW, MZ, NA, SD, SL, SZ, TZ, UG,
(72) Inventors: SHEEHAN, John, M.; c/o Microsoft Corpo ZM, ZW), Eurasian (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, MD, RU, TJ,
ration, LCA - International Patents, One Microsoft Way, TM), European (AL, AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, CZ, DE, DK,
Redmond, Washington 98052-6399 (US). REIERSON, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, LT, LU,
Kristofer, H.; c/o Microsoft Corporation, LCA - Interna LV, MC, MK, MT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, SK,
[Continued on nextpage]
(54) Title: VIRTUAL APPLICATION EXTENSION POINTS
(57) Abstract: A virtual application may be configured with
several extension points within a host operating system. The v ir
tual application may be configured with a private namespace in
which various components, such as registry settings, dynamic
linked libraries, and other components may reside. During con
figuration, links may be placed in the host operating system that
may point to objects in the virtual application's private names
I I I pace so that the operating system and other applications may
I I launch, control, or otherwise interact with the virtual applica
I tion. The links may be located in a file system, registry, or other
locations and may be available to other applications, including
other virtual applications. A configuration routine may place the
links into the host operating system at the time the application
may be configured.
I ,
I I I
I I I N
I
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w o 2011/126776 A2 1I II II I III I1 1 I ill II llll III i ll
SM, TR), OAPI (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GQ, — as to the applicant's entitlement to claim the priority of
GW, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG). the earlier application (Rule 4.17(Hi))
Declarations under Rule 4.17: Published:
— as to applicant's entitlement to apply for and be granted — without international search report and to be republished
a patent (Rule 4.1 7( )) upon receipt of that report (Rule 48.2(g))
VIRTUAL APPLICATION EXTENSION POINTS
Background
[0001] Application virtualization is a technique that isolates an application from a host
operating system or from other applications that may operate in the operating system. The
application virtualization may have many benefits, such as allowing two or more
otherwise incompatible applications to execute side by side on the same operating system.
In many cases, configuring and managing a virtual application may be much simpler than
installing a host application.
Summary
[0002] A virtual application may be configured with several extension points within a host
operating system. The virtual application may be configured with a private namespace in
which various components, such as registry settings, dynamic linked libraries, and other
components may reside. During configuration, links may be placed in the host operating
system that may point to objects in the virtual application's private namespace so that the
operating system and other applications may launch, control, or otherwise interact with the
virtual application. The links may be located in a file system, registry, or other locations
and may be available to other applications, including other virtual applications. A
configuration routine may place the links into the host operating system at the time the
application may be configured.
[0003] This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form
that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not
intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is
it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[0004] In the drawings,
[0005] FIGURE 1 is a diagram illustration of an embodiment showing a system with
virtualized applications.
[0006] FIGURE 2 is a flowchart illustration of an embodiment showing a method for
installing a virtualized application.
[0007] FIGURE 3 is a flowchart illustration of an embodiment showing a method for
responding to a link into a private namespace.
Detailed Description
[0008] A virtual application may be executed in a host operating system with pointers
from the host operating system's public namespace into a private namespace used by the
virtual application. The pointers may reside in the host operating system's registry and
file system, for example, and may allow other applications and the operating system to
access, control, and operate the virtual application.
[0009] The virtual application may be configured and made available by a installation
program that may create links within the host operating system to a private namespace
within an application virtualizer. The installation program may install the application
virtualizer so that a user or another application may launch and interact with the virtual
application.
[0010] In many embodiments, a user may experience the virtual application operating
within application virtualizer as if the virtual application were executing natively in the
host operating system. The virtual application may present a graphical user interface and
may allow interaction in the same manner as a natively executing application, such as cut
and paste functions and other similar graphical user interface elements.
[0011] The virtual application may operate within an application virtualizer and may have
the private namespace and the host operating system namespace made available to the
virtual application. Such a configuration may allow the virtual application to access the
host operating system file system, registry, and other functions, while keeping many data
sources for the virtual application within the private namespace.
[0012] Throughout this specification, like reference numbers signify the same elements
throughout the description of the figures.
[0013] When elements are referred to as being "connected" or "coupled," the elements can
be directly connected or coupled together or one or more intervening elements may also be
present. In contrast, when elements are referred to as being "directly connected" or
"directly coupled," there are no intervening elements present.
[0014] The subject matter may be embodied as devices, systems, methods, and/or
computer program products. Accordingly, some or all of the subject matter may be
embodied in hardware and/or in software (including firmware, resident software, micro
code, state machines, gate arrays, etc.) Furthermore, the subject matter may take the form
of a computer program product on a computer-usable or computer-readable storage
medium having computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in the
medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system. In the context
of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be any medium
that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in
connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
[0015] The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be for example, but not
limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor
system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. By way of example, and not
limitation, computer-readable media may comprise computer storage media and
communication media.
[0016] Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and nonremovable
media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information
such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data.
Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash
memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other
optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic
storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information
and may be accessed by an instruction execution system. Note that the computer-usable or
computer-readable medium can be paper or other suitable medium upon which the
program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured via, for instance, optical
scanning of the paper or other suitable medium, then compiled, interpreted, of otherwise
processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory.
[0017] Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions, data
structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier
wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The
term "modulated data signal" can be defined as a signal that has one or more of its
characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By
way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a
wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF,
infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above-mentioned should
also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
[0018] When the subject matter is embodied in the general context of computer-executable
instructions, the embodiment may comprise program modules, executed by one or more
systems, computers, or other devices. Generally, program modules include routines,
programs, objects, components, data structures, and the like, that perform particular tasks
or implement particular abstract data types. Typically, the functionality of the program
modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.
[0019] Figure 1 is a diagram of an embodiment 100, showing a system with virtualized
applications. Embodiment 100 is a simplified example of a system that may have
virtualized applications in either a fully installed or streaming configuration.
[0020] The diagram of Figure 1 illustrates functional components of a system. In some
cases, the component may be a hardware component, a software component, or a
combination of hardware and software. Some of the components may be application level
software, while other components may be operating system level components. In some
cases, the connection of one component to another may be a close connection where two
or more components are operating on a single hardware platform. In other cases, the
connections may be made over network connections spanning long distances. Each
embodiment may use different hardware, software, and interconnection architectures to
achieve the described functions.
[0021] Embodiment 100 is an example of a system that may execute certain applications
in a virtualized manner. The virtualized manner may isolate the application from other
applications and from an operating system. An application virtualizer may provide the
separation layer by creating a private namespace that may be referenced by the virtualized
application. The application virtualizer may allow the application to reference the private
namespace first, and then if a reference is not found in the private namespace, the
application may be able to reference items in a public namespace.
[0022] The private namespace may include items such as files, libraries, assemblies,
registry settings, and other variables that may be used by the virtualized application for
many different functions. In some cases, an item in a private namespace may launch the
virtual application, and sometimes such a launch item may be received with variables or
other information that may be consumed by the virtual application as it executes. In other
cases, an item in a private namespace may include a value that may be queried.
[0023] The application virtualization system of embodiment 100 may include links or
references in a public namespace that may point to items in a private namespace. The
links may be a mechanism for different applications and direct user input to access the
virtual applications. In some cases, such links may be used by one virtual application to
communicate with or call another virtual application.
[0024] One use for a link may be for file type associations. Some operating systems may
allow certain file types to be associated with specific applications. When a file is Opened'
using a file browser or other mechanism, a file type association entry in a registry or other
location may be queried to determine which application, if any, may be associated with the
file type. In the case of a virtualized application, a link in a private namespace may be
created for associating the virtual application with the file type. In many operating
systems, such a link may be placed in the operating system registry.
[0025] The links may be created during an installation process for the virtual application.
The installation process may install an application virtualizer and other components that
may be used to execute an application, as well as configure various links in a public
namespace that reference items in the private namespace for the virtual application. The
public links may be accessible to other applications, and may be intercepted and processed
by an application virtualizer when the links are referenced.
[0026] The application virtualizer may receive a link to a location inside a private
namespace and perform some action based on the link. In some cases, the application
virtualizer may launch the application. Some cases may launch the application and pass
parameters to the application that may have been received along with the link. In still
other cases, the application virtualizer may return a value in the private namespace based
on the request for the link.
[0027] The virtualized application may be a streamed application. In a streamed
application, portions of the application may be downloaded from a streaming server on
request as the application is being executed. A streaming client on a client device may
request portions of the application from a streaming server as those portions are referenced
by the application.
[0028] Embodiment 100 illustrates a device 102 that may represent a conventional
computing device that contains hardware components 104 and software components 106.
The device 102 may be any type of computing device, such as a desktop computer, server
computer, game console, network appliance, or other device. In some cases, the device
102 may be a portable device, such as a laptop computer, netbook computer, personal
digital assistant, mobile telephone, or other device.
[0029] The hardware components 104 may include a processor 108, random access
memory 110, and nonvolatile storage 112. The hardware components 104 may also
include a network interface 114 and a user interface 116.
[0030] The software components 106 may include an operating system 118 that may
contain a public namespace 120. The public namespace 120 may include a registry 122
and a file system 124.
[0031] The public namespace 1 0 may include various items tracked by an operating
system and made available to applications that execute within the operating system. In
many embodiments, access to the public namespace 120 may be restricted in some cases.
For example, an operating system may have access restrictions that may permit or deny
access to certain portions of the public namespace 120 based on credentials presented by a
user, device, application, or other entity that may attempt to access the items.
[0032] The public namespace 120 is called "public" because the public namespace 120 is
managed by the operating system 120 and may be made available to different applications
and users, subject to access restrictions. A virtual application may have private namespace
that is "private" because the private namespace is available to the application but generally
may not be searched or accessed by other applications.
[0033] Native applications 126 may be those applications that execute within the public
namespace 120 of the operating system 118. Native applications may be conventional,
non-virtualized applications.
[0034] An installation application 128 may be used to install and configure a virtual
application on the device 102. The installation application 128 may perform several
different functions so that a virtual application may successfully execute on the device
102, including creating a private namespace and providing links 123 and 125 from places
in the public namespace 120 into the private namespace. The links 123 and 125 are
illustrated as being inside the public namespace registry 122 and file system 124,
respectively, and may be an entry point into the virtual application. An example of a
process that may be performed by the installation application 128 may be found in
embodiment 200 presented later in this specification.
[0035] An application virtualizer 130 may be installed by the installation application 128
may be a mechanism for executing an application in a virtual manner. The application
virtualizer 130 may manage a private namespace 132 that may include a private file
system 134 as well as private entries for a registry 136. The virtual application 138 may
be executed by the application virtualizer 130 and may access the private namespace 132.
[0036] A streaming virtualized application may also be installed by the installation
application 128. A streaming version may include an application virtualizer 140 that
includes a private namespace 142 that contains a private file system 144 and private
entries for a registry 146. Rather than a virtual application, a streaming client 148 may
fetch portions of an application from a streaming server 168 as those portions are
requested by the application or the application virtualizer 140. In some embodiments, the
streaming client 148 may fetch portions of the private namespace 142, including files in
the private file system 144 and private entries for the registry 146.
[0037] The private namespaces 132 and 142 may be accessible by the virtual application
138 or a virtual application supplied by the streaming client 148 as the virtual application
executes. The private namespaces 132 and 142 may also be accessible through the links
123 and 125 that may point into the private namespaces 132 and 142, which may enable
other applications to directly access the virtual application, its settings, and other
information.
[0038] The device 102 is illustrated as being connected to a network 150 to which an
installation server 152 and a streaming server 168 may be connected.
[0039] The installation server 152 may contain several installation packages 154 that may
be used by the device 102 to install different virtual applications. The installation
packages 154 may contain an installation client 156, which may be the executable
installation application 128 that operates on the client device 102 to configure a virtual
application for execution.
[0040] The installation packages 154 may include all of the components that may be used
to execute an application in a virtual manner. For example, the installation package 154
may include an application virtualizer 158. The application virtualizer 158 may be
installed so that it may execute natively on a client device and provide resources for a
virtual application.
[0041] The installation package 154 may include a private namespace 160 that may
include files 162 and entries for a registry 164. The private namespace 160 may be fully
populated in that the private namespace 160 may include all of the files that represent the
virtual application 166. In some cases, the private namespace 160 in the installation
package 154 may include a framework or sparsely populated set of files, registry settings,
and other items, and the framework may be further populated by the application 166 or the
application virtualizer 158.
[0042] The installation package 154 may include a manifest 163. The manifest 163 may
include links that are placed within a public namespace and may point to the private
namespace 160. The manifest 163 may include additional items that may be processed by
an installation client 156 during installation.
[0043] The installation server 152 illustrates one example of how a virtual application may
be prepared prior to installation and execution on a client device 102. The installation
server 152 may contain many different packages 154 that may be downloaded and
installed on various client devices. In some embodiments, an installation package 154
may be stored on a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) or other storage medium and read by a
client device 102 to install the application.
[0044] The installation packages 154 may be created for full installations as well as
streaming application. In a full installation, the installation package 154 may contain all
of the files, including executable and data files, as well as any other resource to enable the
virtual application to execute. A full installation may allow a client device 102 to fully
execute the application without any additional resources, such as a streaming server 168
for example.
[0045] A streaming application may retrieve a majority of the executable and data files for
a virtual application from a streaming server 168. A streaming application may be
installed merely by installing a application virtualizer 158 and a streaming client. The
streaming client may communicate with the streaming server 168 to retrieve portions of
the application as requested. In some cases, a streaming application may be stored in a
local cache, which may be re-used when the application is executed again.
[0046] In a streaming embodiment, each time the application is launched, a
communication may occur between the client device 102 and the streaming server 168 to
identify and retrieve the latest version of the application. The streaming server 168 may
transmit a small portion of the application to the client device 102 so that the application
may begin execution, and then transmit additional portions as those portions are requested
by the application. A streaming client may monitor which portions are being requested
and retrieve those portions from the streaming server 168.
[0047] The streaming server 168 may include several streaming packages 170, each of
which may represent a different application. An application streamer 172 may
communicate with a streaming client to download the portions of the streaming packages
170 that may be requested by a streaming client.
[0048] Each streaming package 170 may include a private namespace 174 that may
include files 176 and settings for a registry 178. The files 176 may include all or a portion
of the executable files for the virtualized application 180.
[0049] Figure 2 is a flowchart illustration of an embodiment 200 showing a method for
installing a virtual application. Embodiment 200 is an example of a method that may be
performed by an installation application that may execute natively on an operating system
to install and configure components so that a virtual application may be executed.
Embodiment 200 is an example of a process that may be performed by an installation
application, such as the installation application 128 or 156 of embodiment 100.
[0050] Other embodiments may use different sequencing, additional or fewer steps, and
different nomenclature or terminology to accomplish similar functions. In some
embodiments, various operations or set of operations may be performed in parallel with
other operations, either in a synchronous or asynchronous manner. The steps selected here
were chosen to illustrate some principles of operations in a simplified form.
[0051] Embodiment 200 illustrates one mechanism by which a virtual application may be
configured to be operated on a client device. The method of embodiment 200 may install
an executable program that may operate natively to isolate the application, and then
populate a private namespace for that application. The method may also include links
from a public namespace into locations in the private namespace.
[0052] An installation package may be received in block 202, and an installation
application may begin executing in block 204. The operations of the installation
application may be reflected in the remaining portion of embodiment 200.
[0053] The installation application may search for a previously installed application
virtualizer in block 206. If an application virtualizer has not been installed in block 208,
an application virtualizer is installed in block 210.
[0054] A new instance of a private namespace may be created in block 212. In the case of
a previously installed application virtualizer, a new instance of a private namespace may
allow one application virtualizer to execute two or more virtual applications, each with its
own private namespace. In some embodiments, a second instance of an application
virtualizer may be executing to support a second virtual application, while in other
embodiments, a single instance of an application virtualizer may be capable of executing
two or more virtualized applications separately yet simultaneously.
[0055] The links in the manifest may be processed in block 214. The manifest may be a
listing, such as a text file or XML file, that contains items to be processed by an
installation application. For each link in block 214, a link may be installed in a public
namespace and may link to a location in the private namespace in block 216. The link
may be a pointer, reference, location, or other identifier that may be accessed from the
public namespace and allow access into the private namespace.
[0056] One use scenario may be to register the virtual application as an application that
may be associated with a specific file type. Many operating systems may associate files
with specific filename extensions to specific applications that may open and process the
files. For example, a registry setting may be defined that associates each file with a
filename ending in ".docx" as being associated with a specific word processing
application. When the word processing application is a virtual application, the link in the
registry may point to the virtual application's private namespace and may cause the
virtualized word processing application to execute.
[0057] Some links established in block 216 may cause the virtual application to be
launched. Some such links may allow parameters or other information to be passed to the
application so that the application may process the information. In some instances, the
virtual application may return a value or other information in response to the call.
[0058] In some cases, the links established in block 216 may point to configuration
information that may be stored in a file or setting in the private namespace. In such cases,
the links may be traversed to examine the file or setting and to return a value or other
information that may be stored in the location.
[0059] After installing each link in block 214, the application may be configured.
[0060] If the application is a streaming application in block 218, a streaming client may be
installed in block 220 and configured in block 222. The streaming client may
communicate with a streaming server to fetch portions of the application as the application
requests the portion. The configuration in block 222 may include installing an address for
the streaming server and configuring other parameters that may be used by a streaming
client. After configuration in block 222, the installation may be complete in block 228.
[0061] If the application is not a streaming client in block 218, all of the items in the
private namespace may be installed in block 224, along with the application in block 226.
The operations of blocks 224 and 226 may represent a full installation of the virtual
application. The application may be completely installed so that the application may
execute on a device without accessing other devices. After installation in block 226, the
installation may be complete in block 228.
[0062] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustration of an embodiment 300 showing a method for
responding to a link into a private namespace. Embodiment 300 is a simplified example
of some operations that may be performed by an application virtualizer when a link from a
public namespace is followed into a private namespace.
[0063] Other embodiments may use different sequencing, additional or fewer steps, and
different nomenclature or terminology to accomplish similar functions. In some
embodiments, various operations or set of operations may be performed in parallel with
other operations, either in a synchronous or asynchronous manner. The steps selected here
were chosen to illustrate some principles of operations in a simplified form.
[0064] Embodiment 300 is an example of some of the processes that may be performed by
an application virtualizer. An application virtualizer may monitor references into the
private namespace from links that may be available in a public namespace. The
application virtualizer may intercept the links from the public namespace and enable
connections into the private namespace.
[0065] In block 302, a link may be referenced in the public namespace. The link may be
referenced by an application making a query to the registry to determine a value for a key,
for example. In another example, a user may click on a shortcut in a start menu that
references a link in the public namespace to an executable file in the private namespace.
[0066] In still another example, a user may use a command shell to connect the output of
one application to a virtual application by a pipeline command. The virtual application
may be referenced using a name in the public namespace that may link to another location
in the private namespace.
[0067] A reference may be received by an application virtualizer in block 304 that may
link into the private namespace. If the request for the link may be handled by reading the
value in the private namespace in block 306 and not launching the application, the value
may be retrieved in block 308 and returned to the requester in block 310.
[0068] If the request can be fulfilled by launching the virtual application in block 306, the
application may be launched in the virtual environment in block 312. If a parameter,
value, or other information was included in the reference received in block 304, the
information may be passed to the application in block 314.
[0069] Some references may cause the application to launch and may receive a value. For
example, a file type association may be used by an operating system to receive a selection
from a user for a specific file type to open, then the operating system may look up the file
type association in the public namespace. The file type association may link into the
private namespace, at which time the application virtualizer may launch the application in
block 312 and pass the filename to the application in block 314. The application may then
open the file and begin operation.
[0070] In such an example, a user may be presented with a user interface generated by the
virtual application, and the user may begin interacting with the application. In such an
example, no response from the application may be expected in block 316 and the virtual
application may execute with the values received.
[0071] In another example, a virtual application may be referenced in a command shell
with a pipeline command. A pipeline command may direct the output of one application
to the input of another application. Sometimes, two, three, or more applications may be
pipelined together. In such an example, the virtual application may receive input from one
application and respond with output that may be consumed by another application. In
such an example, a response may be expected in block 316 and the application virtualizer
may respond with the response value in block 320.
[0072] The foregoing description of the subject matter has been presented for purposes of
illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the subject
matter to the precise form disclosed, and other modifications and variations may be
possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiment was chosen and described in
order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby
enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and
various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that
the appended claims be construed to include other alternative embodiments except insofar
as limited by the prior art.
CLAIMS
1. A method performed on a computer processor, said method comprising:
installing an application virtualizer in a host operating system, said application
virtualizer having a private namespace comprising stored items, said host operating system
having a public namespace;
creating a first link in said public namespace to a first location within said private
namespace;
receiving a command comprising said first link;
identifying said first location from said first link; and
passing said first location to said application virtualizer, said application virtualizer
being configured to launch said virtual application and process said command.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
creating a second link in said public namespace to a second location within said
private namespace, said second location comprising a value;
receiving a request for said second link;
identifying said second location from said second link;
retrieving said value from said private namespace; and
responding to said request with said value.
3. The method of claim 2, said second link being located in a host file system.
4. The method of claim 2, said second link being located in a host registry.
5. The method of claim 1, said private namespace comprising executable code for
said virtual application.
6. The method of claim 5, said private namespace comprising registry settings for
said virtual application.
7. The method of claim 1, said application virtualizer and said first link being
comprised in an installation package.
8. The method of claim 7, said installation package comprising an installation
program that:
reads a manifest comprising said first link; and
creates said first link in said host operating system.
9. The method of claim 1, said command being received from a second virtual
application executing within a second application virtualizer in said host operating system.
10. The method of claim 1, said virtual application being streamed into said
application virtualizer.
11. A system comprising:
a host operating system;
an installation package comprising:
a private namespace;
a manifest comprising a first link to a destination location in said private
namespace, said first link comprising an origination location within said host
operating system; and
an application virtualizer;
an installation program that is configured to:
install said application virtualizer from said application package; and
read said manifest from said application package and create said first link.
12. The system of claim 11, said installation program being executable on a second
system.
13. The system of claim 12 further comprising:
a streaming server that streams said application to said application virtualizer when
said application virtualizer is executing on a second system.
14. The system of claim 13, said application virtualizer comprising a link to said
streaming server.
15. The system of claim 11, said destination location being a registry location in said
private namespace.