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They are. They're called hypervisors. The way I hear it Xen et alia are the new hotness in deploying Windows across the org in IT.

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Have you heard of any major deployments of software directly on top of Xen? I know that HaLVM (http://halvm.org/wiki/) supports doing that but I haven't heard of any production uses for it. Some things, like stateless web servers, seem like they'd be a great fit for deploying on top of Xen.

Everyone who cloud hosts? From Amazon to Linode? http://www.linode.com/wiki/index.php/PV-GRUB

I was talking about client workstations in non-technical environments where central command wants to be able to patch your OS. The Hypervisor downloads OS of the day and runs it, the OS downloads personal settings from some shared server and you have your environment on a disposable workstation.

I meant deployments of software without an operating system other than Xen. Running an operating system on Xen means that you now have the Xen kernel and guest kernel that can have bugs.

I knew I must have been misunderstanding you. No, I am not aware of any.

Webservers can handle a big OS. The hardware is typically over specced as it is. You might find some utility in shrinking/streamlining the OS for embedded or mobile.

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