A group of Oxford University researchers have developed a Java-based x86 emulator. That means it can run on a computer, in a web browser, or pretty much anything that runs Java, including mobile phones.

The JPC emulator creates a virtual machine which can run a variety of different operating systems. The team has set up an online demo running FreeDOS with a couple of games mounted on the C drive to show off JPC's capabilities. For now, that means JPC is one of the most convoluted systems around for playing old games like Space Invaders or Lemmings on the web.

Right now, JPC needs 64MB of RAM to run, so it's not that practical for most mobile phones. But as memory on mobile phones continues to grow and as the team continues to refine JPC, it's not impossible to imagine a future where you could run the OS of your choice on a Java-enabled cellphone. Sure, it would probably run super slow, but still, how cool would that be?

In the meantime, this provides a nice alternative to virtual machines like VMWare and Microsoft VirtualPC.

[via Slashdot]