Patent ID: 7877747

Claim:
A computer system comprising: at least one processor; and a flexible operating system executable on the at least one processor to: determine whether said flexible operating system is being used as a native operating system or as a virtualized operating system on said computer system, wherein the determining is based on checking a variable set during a boot process of the computer system; and execute in a first manner as a native operating system on the computer system in response to detecting that said flexible operating system is being used as the native operation system, and execute in a second manner as a virtualized operating system on said computer system in response to detecting that said flexible operating system is being used as the virtualized operating system, wherein said flexible operating system is configured to operate in a non-virtualized environment when said flexible operating system is being used as the native operating system, and is configured to operate in a virtualized environment when said flexible operating system is being used as the virtualized operating system.