Is there any free desktop virtualization software like VMWare available for Linux?

Thanks

check out this page:
I have tried QEMU, it was very easy to setup and use

dimsh, Comparison of virtual machines table is very good. Thanks for the links.

I second the support of qemu. I have used it several times with the kernel module (kqemu) to test LiveCDs off my main desktop without rebooting.

I support some software that has to run (and therefore, has to be checked) on several different versions of Windows. And in the past this was a very serious problem because I had to have several bootable configurations lying around just for testing. (And you think that "dual booting" is hard in Linux...)

Anyhow... qemu, which I run with the qvm86 kernel-module (some of the time), handles this requirement very well. The various test-environment "hard drives" are simply Linux files.

Speed, in an emulation environment (with kernel-module assist), is certainly slower than native -- and the lag is most noticeable when updating the screen. But it's very acceptable, especially if your machine is fast and can therefore absorb the delays. I'm doing lots of compiles and regression-tests, all of user-mode Windows programs. A single computer can now "change its spots" several times during the course of an overnight test... something I could never do before.

Incidentally, one reason why I like qvm86, versus the (closed-source! ) kqemu module, is that I really don't want to try running privileged instructions in emulation-mode at all. I don't like running closed-source software that dives into the internals of my system, and I've already made use of the ability to test-and-debug the qvm86 layer.

Parallels just released their Workstation 2.1 yesterday. You can download a free trial at their website: parallels.com

It supports most Linux distributions as hosts and guests, and the best part: when you decide to buy it (which you will want to once you use it), it's a cool 49 bucks. Much better than dropping $200 for VMware.

Vmware is available for linux including the free Vmplayer and Vmserver. I have used VMplayer for the last couple of months to play around with various things like PC-BSD, FC 5, SUSE OSS 10, Ubuntu drapper, even installed XP.

All work well, a little slower than running an installed version but faster than running a LiveCD.

I used to use VMware as well, but I've been pretty happy w/ Parallels. I feel as though it's worth spending the $50 for Parallels instead of using a free version of VMware that is slower. That's just my opinion.