Aaron Parker saw my presentation on Windows Server 2008 server core earlier this week and it got him thinking…

I said that Microsoft don’t see server core as an application platform but there’s no real reason why not as long as the applications you want to run don’t have dependencies on components that don’t exist in server core. I even suggested that, with a reduced surface attack area and less patching required, server core is a great platform for those applications that don’t rely on the shell, Internet Explorer, the .NET Framework or anything else that has been removed.

I also mentioned that PowerShell doesn’t run on server core because it relies on the .NET Framework.

So Aaron used SoftGrid to repackage the Microsoft .NET Framework and Windows PowerShell for server core – and it worked! He says there are a few errors, but as a proof of concept it’s a great idea – and a good demonstration of how flexible application virtualisation can be.