News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

April 30, 2007

windows

VirtualBox, yet another virtualization option

Posted Apr. 30, ’07, 4:13 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen
Category | Windows

VirtualBox.jpg

Joining the ranks of Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion and CrossOver is a new addition to the Mac virtualization market: VirtualBox. A few days ago, innotek released a Mac beta version of the software, in addition to its existing Windows and Linux editions.

What differentiates VirtualBox from its competitors is its price: $0 for personal use. Not only that, it’s completely open-source. It runs various flavors of both Linux and Windows (including Vista). A few notable features include a modular design, Remote Desktop Protocol support, and shared folders. Overall, it sounds like VirtualBox is somewhat on the geeky side.

Judging by the lone Mac screenshot on VirtualBox’s site, the product lacks Parallels Desktop’s polish, but early user reports sent to MacWindows suggest the speed is impressive. There’s price to pay for the “beta” label, though: among other things, expect USB support to be flaky.

Anyone want to try it out and report back? The beta is downloadable from VirtualBox’s website.


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