Once again having struggled to get things done due to a heavy workload, but I finally have some time for a month in software article. This month we give you Oracle's VM VirtualBox a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualisation product for enterprise as well as home use.
Oracle VM VirtualBox
Out of all the free virtualisation tools available at this point in time I find that all of them seem to have some limitations. VirtualBox on the other hand is a free open-source virtualisation tool powerful enough for enterprise systems yet easy enough for home users. It runs in Windows editions 95 to 7, Mac OS X, Solaris, and Linux, and it supports a wide range of guest operating systems, including MS-DOS, early versions of Windows, and OpenBSD.
VirtualBox's GUI hasn't changed much over the years. The main window list the VMs available and a birds-eye view of their settings, which can be changed on a machine-by-machine basis. I find that it's not too difficult to increase the amount of RAM or CPU power for my VMs on a need-by-need basis. It is said that VirtualBox lacks the breadth of the simple, step-by-step set-up wizards that other virtualisation applications have however the 'Create virtual machine' wizard VirtualBox provides is quick and more than intuitive for basic use.
- Pros: Free. Several customization options.
- Cons: Slower performance than competitors. Clumsy integration of Windows and Mac. USB device redirection is a hassle.
- Available editions: Binaries released under the terms of the GPL version 2 and available for both x86 and AMD64/Intel64 platforms.
- Used for: VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and Solaris Operating Systems.
- Installation: Installation is fairly simple and mostly automated through the executable file.
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