VirtualBox Pro: What's this?

[uli100]

Yesterday, when walking through our local electronics discounter, I've seen a boxed version of VirtualBox. On the box, it is called "VirtualBox Pro". The box is available on Amazon, too. See this link: http://www.amazon.de/avanquest-Deutschl ... B0026OE38S (... in German, sorry).

• Does anybody know this version?
• What's different from the PUEL version?

Probably, it is just an older version burned on CD? So: Not worth buying? Or do I support the project by buying the box? Please give advice.

Best regards, Uli

[Sasquatch]

They should be sued, there is no 'Pro' version, it should not be in stores like that and paying for it is only for corporate/profit use.

[Martin]

Sasquatch, you should look for more information before writing such statements:
http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/pr/2008-08/ ... 0812.1.xml
http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/media/featu ... /index.jsp

[Sasquatch]

Those are articles from over a year ago, they don't proof anything for today's state. And, VB licenses can only be obtained through Sun, not through some store. This is for specific support for the customer(s).

[Frank Mehnert]

Sasquatch is correct but Avanquest is selling these packages with Sun's blessing. They ship printed manuals, the ISO medium and that nice box of course

[TerryE]

Frank, am I correct in assuming that this is licenced under a relaxation of the PEUL terms, specifically that it is a single use licence, but relaxes the requirement

§ 2 Grant of license. (1) Sun grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited license without fees to reproduce, install, execute, and use internally the Product a Host Computer for your Personal Use, Educational Use, or Evaluation. “Personal Use” requires that you use the Product on the same Host Computer where you installed it yourself ...

In other words it can be used in a commercial environment where the PC user and the Application Installer might be different people (e.g. support comes from an IT department / technician).

[SSCBrian]

They should be sued, there is no 'Pro' version, it should not be in stores like that and paying for it is only for corporate/profit use.

The way I read the license (a few months ago), it becomes necessary to pay for it as soon as it's used as a server of any kind, even if it's home use/not for profit. Also, you CAN use it for corporate/profit use (as long as it's not used as a server). Has there been a change in the licensing?

[Sasquatch]

They should be sued, there is no 'Pro' version, it should not be in stores like that and paying for it is only for corporate/profit use.

The way I read the license (a few months ago), it becomes necessary to pay for it as soon as it's used as a server of any kind, even if it's home use/not for profit. Also, you CAN use it for corporate/profit use (as long as it's not used as a server). Has there been a change in the licensing?

Not that I know of. It's been a while since I read the license terms again. I just noted a global summary of the terms.

[TerryE]

The way I read the license (a few months ago), it becomes necessary to pay for it as soon as it's used as a server of any kind, even if it's home use/not for profit. Also, you CAN use it for corporate/profit use (as long as it's not used as a server).

For PEUL:

• "Education use" (academic institution -- schools, colleges and universities, by teachers and students) and "Evaluation" (testing VBox for a reasonable period, say a few weeks) has pretty much free reign
• “Personal Use” requires that user can use VBox on the same computer that the same user installed it on, and that no more than one client connect to that computer at a time for the purpose of displaying VMs remotely.

So by strict interpretation:

• Production use in an academic institution, say in it administration is out.
• Any situation where the installer/maintainer is a different person to the actual user is out.
• If a developer has a PC and a server then RDPing from the PC onto the server with more than one session at a time is out.

[uli100]

What about this use case: I install the PUEL version on a server. I install several client vms onto this server as well. Now I'm the only one who is the administrator of the VirtualBox installation on the server. No other person connects to the RDP consoles of the clients. BUT: Other persons connect to the server and to the client vms, since I installed web servers (and other networking services) on all of them. Those persons will never know that VirtualBox is used.

Is this use case covered by the PUEL license?

Please share your opinions!

Thanks a lot, Uli

[TerryE]

I am neither a Sun employee nor a lawyer so I can't really give you a formal opinion. Why not read the VirtualBox Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL) for yourself. It all comes down to your (and Suns') interpretation of § 2 Grant of license (and in particular the section that I highlighted):

1. Sun grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited license without fees to reproduce, install, execute, and use internally the Product a Host Computer for your Personal Use, Educational Use, or Evaluation. “Personal Use” requires that you use the Product on the same Host Computer where you installed it yourself and that no more than one client connect to that Host Computer at a time for the purpose of displaying Guest Computers remotely. “Educational use” is any use in an academic institution (schools, colleges and universities, by teachers and students). “Evaluation” means testing the Product for a reasonable period (that is, normally for a few weeks); after expiry of that term, you are no longer permitted to evaluate the Product.
   
   
2. The “VirtualBox Guest Additions” are a set of drivers and utilities that are shipped as a subset of the Product for the purpose of being installed inside a Guest Computer to improve its performance and cooperation with the rest of the Product. In addition to and independent of the rights granted by subsection 1, Sun allows you to install, execute, copy and redistribute a) unmodified copies of the ISO installation medium of the VirtualBox Guest Additions as shipped with the Product and b) the VirtualBox Guest Additions together with the Guest Computer into which they have been installed.

My personal and unqualified opinion is that this section (1) does not specifically bring the provision of LAMP services, say, into this scope of exclusion. Sun could have easily and simply tightened up this wording, if that was their intention.

[uli100]

Hi TerryE,

thanks a lot for taking the time to post a reply to my question. I've read the PUEL license. The part you've marked is the one I've been thinking about before. I agree that there is some room for interpretation. Since I'm neither a lawyer nor a native English speaker, it is rather difficult to me to come to the "right" conclusions. I'm especially not sure about the meaning of "displaying Guest Computers remotely". It may mean "show anything from the Guest remotely" (including a network service running on the guest) or "show the console window of the Guest remotely" (... either via RDP or via shared X server). The examples given in the license FAQ lead me more to the second interpretation. Your reply leads to a similar conclusion.

So I think I'm save to use it this way (... at least for now).

Since I bought the "Virtual Box Pro" box in the meantime and since server usage is especially advertised on the box I think I'm absolutely "safe".

Best regards and thanks again, Uli

[pete_l]

I've always interpreted the part which says

no more than one client connect to that Host Computer at a time

to mean that a PUEL user cannot have more than 1 guest O/S running at a time. What do others think?

[MarkCranness]

“Personal Use” requires that you use the Product on the same Host Computer where you installed it yourself and that no more than one client connect to that Host Computer at a time for the purpose of displaying Guest Computers remotely.

Interpret client as Client Computer and note Guest ComputerS (plural) and that allows remotely displaying the console of more than one guest at a time (from a single remote client).
Note remotely, and the sentence doesn't apply when displaying the guest computers locally (on the host).