Anecdotes [virtual machines]
Peter J. Denning · IEEE Annals of the History of Computing · 2001
The author explains how 'virtual' came into the everyday computing lexicon. The term virtual was borrowed from optics in the 1980s and has become a major term in computing today. In its broadest sense, virtual machine refers to the universality of the computer: with sufficient memory, any computer can simulate any other if we simply load it with software simulating the other computer.