virtual.machine

is a set of resources obtained from Unix at initialization time, which display the functions and characteristics of a Pick computer system, and is shared by several Pick processes.

In this case, a 'real' machine (the Unix computer system) emulates a 'virtual' machine (the Pick computer system), which then appears to have disk space, tape drives, printers, terminals, users, and the Pick filesystem and language.

Several virtual machines can coexist on any given single hardware platform.

A virtual machine is identified by a unique 'key' allocated by the System Administrator at install time.

A virtual machine must first be 'booted' (i.e. activated) before users can access it. Any user can be 'connected' to any number of virtual machines at any given time.