4 ms·

With Oracle's rocky reputation around open source, I'm surprised that VirutalBox is still going strong and under active development. There doesn't seem to be a

With Oracle's rocky reputation around open source, I'm surprised that VirutalBox is still going strong and under active development. There doesn't seem to be any kind of commercial "enterprise version" that they license for big bucks... what is their incentive for keeping this thing going?

_pmf_ 10y ago
Hush. Don't give them ideas.
tobias3 10y ago
You have to buy Oracle VM VirtualBox (i.e. the enterprise version) to use the Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack (USB 2.0+3.0 support) commercially.
- davweb 10y ago
  This isn't completely true. You can use it for free commercially as long as you install it yourself. The Licensing FAQ [1] says: > Also, if you install it on your work PC at some large company, this is still personal use. However, if you are an administrator and want to deploy it to the 500 desktops in your company, this would no longer qualify as personal use. [1] https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Licensing_FAQ https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Licensing_FAQ
a3n 10y ago
VirtualBox is last in the alphabet. We're safe for awhile.
FireBeyond 10y ago
It's also made even uglier by the fact that VMware has discontinued Fusion, and Parallels (at least in the Vagrant, etc, ecosystem) has always been a second class citizen). Not to mention that Parallels licensing is a pain. I understand license key activation as at times a necessary evil but in cases where you are developing a product for use primarily by developers who may frequently re-install their computer, could you at least do some form of trivial hardware checksumming? I had to call support because I'd exceeded five activations of my license. They reset it, after asking why. Several months later, same situation - this time they refused to reset the activation counter. Once loyal customer, no longer, when you refuse to activate software for the purchaser. Thankfully, Docker et al seem to be making some good strides at making use of Hyve based virtualization in the OS X realm. I'm excited to see how that progresses.
- cpr 10y ago
  Hadn't heard about Fusion. Not exactly discontinued, but the signs don't look good, either: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/27/vmware_fusion_and_workstation_development_team_fired/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/27/vmware_fusion_and_wo... Agree about Docker using built-in macOS virtualization. Quite hopeful.
- Scarbutt 10y ago
  From where do you get vmware fusion was discontinued?
  - kgwgk 10y ago
    At least the people behind it is gone. I was discussed in HN at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10978672 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10978672
    - frostmatthew 10y ago
      > the people behind it is gone Development switched to different people/teams but that doesn't mean it's not under active development. Meet the new team: http://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2016/07/meet-the-team.html http://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2016/07/meet-the-team.ht...
      - kgwgk 10y ago
        Great, I'm glad Fusion is alive.
  - xenadu02 10y ago
    Management fired the entire HostesUI team and shipped bare-minimum maintenance to India.
    - frostmatthew 10y ago
      > shipped bare-minimum maintenance to India The development team is not in India and is doing more than bare-minimum maintenance, they have "a great surprise lined up for Q3, something very interesting for Q4, and something very big for H1"[1] [1] http://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2016/07/meet-the-team.html http://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2016/07/meet-the-team.ht...
berns 10y ago
Interesting, I searched for the "enterprise version" on shop.oracle.com. It's listed at USD 1,000 / socket.

_pmf_ 10y ago

Hush. Don't give them ideas.

tobias3 10y ago

You have to buy Oracle VM VirtualBox (i.e. the enterprise version) to use the Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack (USB 2.0+3.0 support) commercially.

davweb 10y ago
This isn't completely true. You can use it for free commercially as long as you install it yourself. The Licensing FAQ [1] says: > Also, if you install it on your work PC at some large company, this is still personal use. However, if you are an administrator and want to deploy it to the 500 desktops in your company, this would no longer qualify as personal use. [1] https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Licensing_FAQ https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Licensing_FAQ

a3n 10y ago

VirtualBox is last in the alphabet. We're safe for awhile.

FireBeyond 10y ago

It's also made even uglier by the fact that VMware has discontinued Fusion, and Parallels (at least in the Vagrant, etc, ecosystem) has always been a second class citizen). Not to mention that Parallels licensing is a pain. I understand license key activation as at times a necessary evil but in cases where you are developing a product for use primarily by developers who may frequently re-install their computer, could you at least do some form of trivial hardware checksumming? I had to call support because I'd exceeded five activations of my license. They reset it, after asking why. Several months later, same situation - this time they refused to reset the activation counter. Once loyal customer, no longer, when you refuse to activate software for the purchaser. Thankfully, Docker et al seem to be making some good strides at making use of Hyve based virtualization in the OS X realm. I'm excited to see how that progresses.

cpr 10y ago
Hadn't heard about Fusion. Not exactly discontinued, but the signs don't look good, either: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/27/vmware_fusion_and_workstation_development_team_fired/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/27/vmware_fusion_and_wo... Agree about Docker using built-in macOS virtualization. Quite hopeful.
Scarbutt 10y ago
From where do you get vmware fusion was discontinued?
- kgwgk 10y ago
  At least the people behind it is gone. I was discussed in HN at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10978672 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10978672
  - frostmatthew 10y ago
    > the people behind it is gone Development switched to different people/teams but that doesn't mean it's not under active development. Meet the new team: http://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2016/07/meet-the-team.html http://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2016/07/meet-the-team.ht...
    - kgwgk 10y ago
      Great, I'm glad Fusion is alive.
- xenadu02 10y ago
  Management fired the entire HostesUI team and shipped bare-minimum maintenance to India.
  - frostmatthew 10y ago
    > shipped bare-minimum maintenance to India The development team is not in India and is doing more than bare-minimum maintenance, they have "a great surprise lined up for Q3, something very interesting for Q4, and something very big for H1"[1] [1] http://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2016/07/meet-the-team.html http://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2016/07/meet-the-team.ht...

berns 10y ago

Interesting, I searched for the "enterprise version" on shop.oracle.com. It's listed at USD 1,000 / socket.