Sun xVM VirtualBox 2.0 released!
Sun xVM VirtualBox 2.0 was released today. This is a shiny thing for two reasons - new features and support.
The new features are the first awesome thing. It's an impressive list, particularly considering that the team's last maintenance release was nine days ago. (Seriously, do you guys sleep?) It includes:
-Support for 64-bit guests
-User interface improvements (including a new native interface for OSX Leopard)
-Host Interface Networking improvements (Added for OSX, beefed up for Solaris)
-Performance improvements
-Support for Microsoft's VHD format
...among a number of other things.
The second cool thing about the new release is that you can now get an Enterprise subscription (starting at $30 a year). Now, some of you are probably wondering, 'Why would I pay for something I can get for free?' It's a valid question. There are a couple of reasons. For one, an Enterprise subscription comes with 24/7 support, which big companies and a lot of normal people like to have. Also, an Enterprise subscription lets you deploy Sun xVM VirtualBox using your own deployment tools.
The announcement also noted that the German government is using Sun xVM VirtualBox on over 12,000 PCs in their embassies around the world, and worldwide downloads are at 6.5 million. Anyone care to guess when it will hit seven million? If so, put it in a comment.
Thanks for the heads up. I have tested 1.6 on Mac, OpenSolaris and Windows and it's great - much better parity across platforms than other solutions.
I'm really excited about the enterprise subscription availability (though I couldn't find specifics on the link in the press release). We've talked about such agreements for other virtualization platforms, but so far the "deals" have been less than compelling.
Posted by Charles Soto on September 05, 2008 at 07:45 AM MDT #
Charles,
I'm glad that you're liking Sun xVM VirtualBox itself.
As for the Enterprise subscription, I don't actually see it on the online store, even though the download is updated. When they actually do put up details, I'll let you know.
Posted by Owen Allen on September 05, 2008 at 09:20 AM MDT #
Downloaded Virtualbox, installed it but would not run, fault 2803, tried again, same result. Derek.
Posted by Derek Gill on September 09, 2008 at 12:46 PM MDT #
Derek,
Your best bet is to go to virtualbox.org and take a look at the forums. If it's a known issue, there should be a solution or a workaround. If not, you can ask, and the community is pretty good at helping solve those sorts of problems.
Posted by Owen Allen on September 09, 2008 at 01:02 PM MDT #