1. A system comprising: a platform having virtualization capabilities; at least one processor coupled to the platform, the at least one processor to run an unmodified general-purpose operating system (GPOS) in a first virtual machine (VM) on the platform, the unmodified GPOS to run at least one non-performance critical process and wherein the GPOS is unaware that it is running in a VM, wherein the first VM is a non-privileged VM; and a domain specific run-time environment (DSRTE) partitioned into at least two portions, wherein a first portion comprises non-performance critical processes to run under the GPOS in the first VM, and wherein at least one additional portion comprises at least one performance critical process on the platform outside of the first VM running the GPOS, wherein one or more of the at least one additional portion is customized to execute the at least one performance critical process.