OS X Guest Additions

[apraetor]

Just wanted to comment -- in the post-Google-vs-Oracle world Oracle could make a compelling argument for NOT having to license the APIs from Apple.. considering it just lost a lawsuit seeking to do exactly that

[mpack]

I rather doubt that licensing an API is what Lou was referring to. I've never heard of anyone licensing an API, and in fact in all of the legal precedents I know of it is perfectly acceptable to develop something which conforms to someone's published API whether you have their permission or not - a software API is not protectable by either copyright or patent.

What Apple will not allow is running OS X on anything except Apple hardware. This limits the market for for OS X GAs to quite a small market percentage, and that percentage is even lower in the business market where VirtualBox revenue comes from. I'd say that a business market percentage of 0% is a reasonable approximation, hence OS X GAs are assigned the corresponding priority.

[megaza]

Post is already many years old.
I cannot believe that the feature is not already implemented.

If vmware can have additions on mac os host, why not the same for virtualbox?!

Can someone develop not official, open sourced, illegal additions hosted on github and he will be paid from community? (if first options is problem then make it by force, he will be paid more than Oracle developer)

[mpack]

Post is already many years old.
I cannot believe that the feature is not already implemented.

Then I assume a problem is with your reading comprehension, since the reasons are well explained above, and have not changed. But, if you want to develop VirtualBox GAs for OS X and contribute them to the project then I'm sure the devs would be appreciative. Otherwise, why should anyone else have a reason to do it?

[megaza]

Then I assume a problem is with your reading comprehension, since the reasons are well explained above, and have not changed

Problem is in your opinion which is 3years old and has not changed (the same goes with virtualbox functionality)
There are many developers which are using hackintosh or VM (windows and linux users) to make money on app store.
Illegal yes, but who cares - apple will be payed for every sell. We live in time where service is payed and not the product (and that will in the near future be the case for apple).

is virtualbox platform extendable as intellij and netbeans plugin management, so open source community can create own modules for virtualbox? Then illegal things are not virtualbox problem (surprise). Using knowledge and resources from community some major problems are simple done.

[socratis]

Problem is in your opinion which is 3years old and has not changed (the same goes with virtualbox functionality)

The problem is that twice you failed to understand the fundamentals and/or read the thread and the logic behind it. Nothing will change unless there is legitimate demand. There will be NO third post about this. Period.

This is a users' site supported by Oracle. If Apple decides to sue Oracle for helping with breaking their EULA, then Oracle will pull their support for the site. We really love this site, way more than we love you (nothing personal). So, at the risk of losing the site or you, the choice is quite clear.

If you really want to help, have the abilities, the hardware and the know how, by all means do. But bitching and moaning "oh, this is three years old, fix it" can have only one outcome, and one outcome only. Any continuation of this discussion in the path you're taking it, will result to "print posts > /dev/null", at a minimum.

I hope we have a complete understanding.

[michaln]

Illegal yes, but who cares - apple will be payed for every sell.

Who cares is Oracle. Not only is supporting illegal software highly problematic from a legal standpoint, there is also no business to be made. Even if Oracle didn't care about the legality (and Oracle does care), the utter lack of a business case is the end of any discussion.

We live in time where service is payed and not the product (and that will in the near future be the case for apple).

And yet you demand a free service from Oracle.

is virtualbox platform extendable as intellij and netbeans plugin management, so open source community can create own modules for virtualbox?

People who are capable of contributing something in this direction are more than capable of doing the research for themselves.

[megaza]

I did not say that Oracle should support illegal features. Oracle is supporting virtualbox features for his business demands.
But if platform is pluggable and someone is making a atomic rocket launcher of virtualbox than it is not a Oracle problem (that's the point).

My goal was only to write my opinion about this problem as general because it is one of many feature that are not or cannot be implemented because of platform limitations.
Maybe virtualbox is already pluggable, but i did not find something as http://plugins.netbeans.org/

For Oracle it would be better making it more community driven and to have free and licensed plugins for the platform so everyone can contribute to the system.

[mpack]

I did not say that Oracle should support illegal features.

Of course you did. "Nudge nudge wink wink" is not a defence at law. And you didn't address the business argument at all.

[megaza]

If vmware can have additions on mac os host, why not the same for virtualbox?!

Can someone develop not official, open sourced, illegal additions hosted on github and he will be paid from community? (if first options is problem then make it by force, he will be paid more than Oracle developer)

My first post was clear enough.

For Oracle it is not a business potential because of low market share, but for current and other features it would be business potential make the platform pluggable and more community driven.
Oracle can make his own plugins licensed or free. So someone who has knowledge and support for Os X Guest Additions can make the plugin and share it, illegal or not but that is not Oracle problem.

You can make a new topic about it and link it.

[towo2099]

And you are wrong, vmware does not provide guest additions anymore for vmware, since vmware does not support OSX as guest anymore.

[scottgus1]

Illegal yes, but who cares

Apple's lawyers will care. A lot. You want to pay the legal fees? You want to have Virtualbox taken away and never be able to have it again?

OK, Oracle, go ahead and make OSX GAs! Megaza will foot the bill! (Get a credit check on him, though, see if he has a few hundred millions lying around first.)

The moral of the above: Apple are the folks who say you can't run OSX on non-Apple hardware. You have to convince Apple to let that happen, not Oracle or the Virtualbox user forum. You are barking so far up the wrong tree you have run out of tree! If Apple can be convinced, then more folks who can afford to pay for development support licenses from Oracle will pay to have OSX on their non-Apple PCs, and then we free users will be able to benefit from the newly-developed OSX GAs. If you, Megaza, can get step one taken care of, then we'll all hail you as one of the greatest forces for peace and change in the modern world. Let us know when you have completed the task.

[megaza]

Apple lawyers will only care if there is a running business who is selling hackintosh with macOS installed on it.
If you do it for private requirements, Apple dont care about it. Many are developing iOS apps on hackintosh (in private).
We can assume that 50% of windows in world are all cracked (Asia, Africa, half of Europe, south America), but that is ok to microsoft because of market share dominance and it is enough that business is paying (as i say you pay for the service).

All your answers are not something that most people are care about it.

My point is why not make virtualbox more community driven and pluggable, which will resolve many lacking features without the need for Oracle support, good for them and good for us (community). Also, Oracle could have own payed plugins for extra business demands (if you go on vmware market share).

So it is more a new topic which is my opinion as the only real solution related to current topic.

[scottgus1]

Just one thought to consider, then I bow out.

You are talking to the wrong people. We are just users, and we cannot have any hope to be able to ask Oracle to change their decision, let alone tell them to do so.

Find a forum user in Red and PM them to ask. They are the Oracle representatives. Try you ideas on them (and see how far you get...)

[michaln]

We can assume that 50% of windows in world are all cracked (Asia, Africa, half of Europe, south America), but that is ok to microsoft because of market share dominance and it is enough that business is paying (as i say you pay for the service).

Oracle is not Apple and Oracle is not Microsoft, either. So, irrelevant.

All your answers are not something that most people are care about it.

The thing you failed to explain so far is why Oracle should care about you.

My point is why not make virtualbox more community driven and pluggable, which will resolve many lacking features without the need for Oracle support, good for them and good for us (community).

It is entirely possible for a third party to develop Guest Additions for an OS. It has happened before (e.g. Haiku). In fact there is absolutely nothing Oracle can do to stop people from developing OS X Guest Additions.