virtualbox.org

Hi,

I am very new to VirtualBox and want to consider it as an alternative to VMWare Workstation. I am considering its use for a team of ten developers. I was attracted to VirtualBox because it is open-source but, after some thought, would now prefer to use pre-built binaries. I can see that the PUEL is flexible, but I would not expect our team to inidvidually download and install it - our IT group would need to roll it out. Therefore, I think we may need a more commercially oriented license, i.e. we would have to pay for VirtualBox. However, I can't find anywhere that tells me how to buy VirtualBox, though I have seen other posts in this forum ask the same question. I wonder whether Oracle have now got this sorted. Please can anyone advise me on this?

BR

David

DavidA, first of all, yesterday it was released VirtualBox verision 4.0 and license has changed. So I think you should reconsider if you need to buy a license.

In VirtualBox v3.2 there was two products:
- VirtualBox OSE (open-source edition) that was released with GPL code, but code was only available in source-code, not the binaries - I you liked to have a GPL program you need to compile it yourself. This is a hassle a lot of people didn't like,
- VirtualBox PUEL - some additional functionalities (USB 2.0 support in guest, remote desktop support etc - read license for details) and also binary file was available. Some limitations on use - like only one person is allowed to log into guest using Remote desktop. You could buy license if you needed some extra features.

In VirtualBox v4.0 there is now only one product:
- VirtualBox - binary file (it is generally in the scope of VirtualBox OSE) released under GPL
- you can also install extension pack that adds additional functionality that was previously available in PUEL version.

There are some changes in v4.0, more features were added to GPL version comparing to v3.2. There was already discussion in the forum: http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=36778

If you need more info about licensing and e-mail of Oracle sales contact see:
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Licensing_FAQ
Note: you have to take into consideration that version v4.0 was released yesterday and not all of the web pages of virtualbox.org has been appropriately changed. This will happen in few days, but don't forget that now holidays are approaching and some of the employees can already be on vacations. Probably not the best time to make some big decisions like buying a product. So if you see references to "VirtualBox OSE" on some pages this is old info not valid anymore.

There is also some useful info in the User Manual: http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html