New releases and their quality

[smartysmart34]

Hi all,

I've been using VB for approx. 2 years right now. Since then I had only few major issue with the software. But I'm still stuck on 2.1.4 becasue with every new relesase I am reading comments about major issues (Guest does not boot, bluescreens, network issues, CPU load, freezes with 64 bit Guests, Freezes with SMP guests, broken vdi-compress....). My impression is, that with every release a huge bulk of new features is introduced but no one takes the time to do real bugfixing and maintenance. Am I mislead by the fact, that only people with problems post in forums? If not: Is there any phase of real bugfixing planned? I would realy like to upgrade but afte all I've read I'm scared by the possible problems.

Regards,
Martin

[TerryE]

There's always a trade-off of new functionality vs. stability from bedding down. In general the X.Y.0 releases include new functionality and the X.0.0 include a lot of new functionality. I still use 2.2.4 for my production work as this is stable and does what I need. I have avoided 3.0.0 and 3.0.2 because I don't need the 3.X features but I am now considering upgrade to 3.0.4. The time is your choice after all.

[marco]

I started using VB with version 1.3.8 (or even earlier, I don't remember exactly), when it still was far less known and used. I think virtual machines are one the most important and consistent steps in the whole computer evolution, also from an ecological point of view (a few software developers I know, for example, have stopped keeping two or more PCs constantly switched on, using a single powerful machine with several VMs in it instead).

I've always appreciated VirtualBox, not only for being one of the technically best products of its kind, but also for not coming from... from the skies above (Innotek wasn't certainly a huge and powerful name in the software kingdom) and also, let's not be hypocritical, for being accessible free of charge to non business users.

Anyway, having somehow followed the latest 2-3 years of the product's story, I have had the sensation that VB has lately gained a kind of... commercial taste, starting to seem a little more interested in releasing new versions than in releasing fully reliable ones.

I noticed, for example, the sudden jump from version 1.6.x to version 2.0 and also the huge list of bugs which were fixed in 2.0.2 just 8 days later, which seemed to prove that version 2.0 was released without proper testing. Something similar has just happened with release 3.0.0, followed by 3.0.2 in just ten days.

I do not mean to be argomentative, I'm not complaining. I only have this feeling that someone has somehow steered the wheel towards a less technical approach...

[Perryg]

Ahh aren't growing pains something.
The way I see it Vbox has to compete and try to stay ahead of the pack. This does tend to produce a faster release and of course the free users are in fact the beta testers aren't we. I know that I do not have a problem with the product with the exception of a bug or two here and there, and when that happens I either regress to the last stable version or deal with the problem at hand. Even to working around the problem until the fix is sent out. Of course I report it and others do and that is what (IMHO) makes open and free products work.

Off my soap box now.

[James Bond 007]

I started using VB with version 1.3.8 (or even earlier, I don't remember exactly), when it still was far less known and used. I think virtual machines are one the most important and consistent steps in the whole computer evolution, also from an ecological point of view (a few software developers I know, for example, have stopped keeping two or more PCs constantly switched on, using a single powerful machine with several VMs in it instead).

I've always appreciated VirtualBox, not only for being one of the technically best products of its kind, but also for not coming from... from the skies above (Innotek wasn't certainly a huge and powerful name in the software kingdom) and also, let's not be hypocritical, for being accessible free of charge to non business users.

Anyway, having somehow followed the latest 2-3 years of the product's story, I have had the sensation that VB has lately gained a kind of... commercial taste, starting to seem a little more interested in releasing new versions than in releasing fully reliable ones.

I noticed, for example, the sudden jump from version 1.6.x to version 2.0 and also the huge list of bugs which were fixed in 2.0.2 just 8 days later, which seemed to prove that version 2.0 was released without proper testing. Something similar has just happened with release 3.0.0, followed by 3.0.2 in just ten days.

I do not mean to be argumentative, I'm not complaining. I only have this feeling that someone has somehow steered the wheel towards a less technical approach...

Completely agree with you. I was planning to test Virtualbox a while ago, but have since abandoned the plan after seeing the mess that was 3.0.0. Of course it is free, which I fully appreciate, but I do not believe that just because it is free I have to put up with serious, or may be even crippling, bugs, if I were a Virtualbox user. OpenOffice is also free, and I use it all the time as it is pretty solid for my purposes. I am not sure Virtualbox is or will be the case.

Besides, since VMware Workstation has worked very well for me, I have no further incentive to test Virtualbox at this time. Yes, VMware Workstation is not free, but it has been solid for me, and the latest version 6.5.2 runs every OS I throw at it very well so far, including the Windows 7 RTM.

Ahh aren't growing pains something.
The way I see it Vbox has to compete and try to stay ahead of the pack. This does tend to produce a faster release and of course the free users are in fact the beta testers aren't we. I know that I do not have a problem with the product with the exception of a bug or two here and there, and when that happens I either regress to the last stable version or deal with the problem at hand. Even to working around the problem until the fix is sent out. Of course I report it and others do and that is what (IMHO) makes open and free products work.

Off my soap box now.

Just because Virtualbox has to compete and try to stay ahead, does not mean it should rush out buggy new releases. As macro says, the last two major updates of Virtualbox (2.0.0 and 3.0.0) were plagued with problems and were quickly replaced by updated versions in less than 2 weeks. This just shows that these major releases were not tested properly and therefore the users became beta testers to help sort out the problems, perhaps unwillingly. I am grateful that you are happy to be a beta tester for us, but I would not want to be one. I want to use a stable and reliable product, free or not. If I were a Virtualbox user, I would rather wait until one or more updates had been issued to consider using any major updates of Virtualbox.

[TerryE]

@007, There is no imperative for anyone to take the latest version of VBox. I use VB 2.2.4 for my "production" use. It is fast lightweight and does everything that I need of it. I have absolutely no problems with my VMs. As I said above, I am thinking of trying 3.0.4, but I don't need to use any of the new V3 features so there is little imperative for me to do so.