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At least it is not a software I use an like, that is devoured by Oracle this time. (Of course Oracle makes great stuff. In a company as big as Oracle, there ar

At least it is not a software I use an like, that is devoured by Oracle this time. (Of course Oracle makes great stuff. In a company as big as Oracle, there are always niches that create great things. But most offerings are dreadful. And most open source acquisitions did not fare especially well under Oracle)

cowmix 10y ago
VirtualBox has done quite well under Oracle.
- bhouston 10y ago
  I'm pretty sure that the market for VB, like VMWare is being eaten very quickly by lxc-based alternatives like Docker. Probably a bad thing for VB in the medium to long term.
  - stephenr 10y ago
    Only in the "tech fanboy who doesn't actually understand VMs vs Containers" space, which admittedly is quite a big space right now. For OS X/Windows hosts the only thing keeping VirtualBox around is the price tag. No one is going to pay for the commercial version with the terrible performance it has. If you're willing to part with $ you have much better options. On OS X I think new players like Veertu will further displace VirtualBox even in the $0 category.
    - Nullabillity 10y ago
      Veertu doesn't seem like a contender in the $0 category either, considering that the website has statements like "with free tier to run Linux VMs". Since no actual price is mentioned I'd assume that it's in the "if you have to ask..." category.
      - jevinskie 10y ago
        Huh? Veertu Premium is a $40 IAP. https://itunes.apple.com/app/veertu/id1024069033 https://itunes.apple.com/app/veertu/id1024069033
        Nullabillity 10y ago
        Good luck finding that on their website.
        stephenr 10y ago
        They link to their Mac App Store page, which shows the IAP pricing for the upgrade.
    - throwaway_xx9 10y ago
      Excuse me, but even free Virtualbox's performance is adequate for web development work. (I use a Macbook Pro and deploy into a local linux VM. I can snapshot a full VM in less than 10 seconds.) You may be referring to graphics performance, but not a lot of people use a VM for gaming. The huge advantage of free Virtualbox is that once you buy VMware Fusion, you're on an upgrade cycle for every new OS release. With free Virtualbox, you just download another one and you're golden.
    - toyg 10y ago
      Veertu's main obstacle is cross-platform support. The point of providing virtualbox images is that they will work everywhere. Look at the number of opensource projects distributing Hyper-V images, which has the exact same problem; and the OSX market is orders of magnitude smaller. I like the Veertu concept and I think it has its advantages, but realistically, it has no chance to encroach on VB's market share.
      - stephenr 10y ago
        This is why basically every virtualisation tool has "import from..." functionality
  - Mister_Snuggles 10y ago
    VirtualBox and VMWare do very different things than lxc/Docker. VirtualBox and VMWare, for example, allow you to run Windows on a Mac, or FreeBSD on Linux, or Linux on Windows. lxc/Docker does none of this, it's simply a different technology with a different purpose.
    - criddell 10y ago
      Yes they are different technologies and have different strengths. Before Docker, a VM was just about the only way to decouple a software environment from specific hardware. Now some people are migrating from a VM to Docker if that's all they need. I have no idea how big the impact of Docker is on the various VM vendors, but it isn't zero.
- morgo 10y ago
  MySQL has done well also. Disclosure: I work on this team. Take a look at new features in 5.7 for example: http://www.thecompletelistoffeatures.com/ http://www.thecompletelistoffeatures.com/
  - stephenr 10y ago
    .... Oracle bought a domain name just to list the new features in a minor version release? I know MySQL doesn't use Semver at all, and I know the domain probably cost 3/5 of fuck all, but still...
    - morgo 10y ago
      I bought the domain name. It's not a minor release. MySQL predates semver. It is not alone here (see Mac OS X; PostgreSQL etc.). But you will be happy to hear that the next version will be called 8.0.
      - stephenr 10y ago
        5.7... to 8.. Oh right, Oracle. Like how Java 1.5 became Java 5, eh. Is >=8 going to be Semver?
        morgo 10y ago
        6.0 was a canceled release. 7.x. is used by Cluster. 8.0 is the next number along, and makes it easy to follow as "it just drops the 5".
        toyg 10y ago
        Dude, Oracle is bad but when they bought Sun, they were already on Java 6. The "1.4 to 5" move was all Sun, back in 2004 -- and to be honest, it wasn't even a bad move.
    - sanxiyn 10y ago
      Looking at WHOIS, I think morgo bought the domain as an individual.
- wavefunction 10y ago
  The upgrade experience could use some polish. It seems like every time I fire vbox up locally it's prompting me to upgrade, which is a very clunky experience given the state of other software patching.
  - saganus 10y ago
    This happens to me too but I thought I was going crazy! It's good to know I'm not alone in this. Also, since I don't remember the exact version I'm currently using it feels like I'm always using an old installation and that I ended up opening the wrong version... well that's some therapist money saved right there, thanks!

cowmix 10y ago

VirtualBox has done quite well under Oracle.

bhouston 10y ago
I'm pretty sure that the market for VB, like VMWare is being eaten very quickly by lxc-based alternatives like Docker. Probably a bad thing for VB in the medium to long term.
- stephenr 10y ago
  Only in the "tech fanboy who doesn't actually understand VMs vs Containers" space, which admittedly is quite a big space right now. For OS X/Windows hosts the only thing keeping VirtualBox around is the price tag. No one is going to pay for the commercial version with the terrible performance it has. If you're willing to part with $ you have much better options. On OS X I think new players like Veertu will further displace VirtualBox even in the $0 category.
  - Nullabillity 10y ago
    Veertu doesn't seem like a contender in the $0 category either, considering that the website has statements like "with free tier to run Linux VMs". Since no actual price is mentioned I'd assume that it's in the "if you have to ask..." category.
    - jevinskie 10y ago
      Huh? Veertu Premium is a $40 IAP. https://itunes.apple.com/app/veertu/id1024069033 https://itunes.apple.com/app/veertu/id1024069033
      - Nullabillity 10y ago
        Good luck finding that on their website.
        stephenr 10y ago
        They link to their Mac App Store page, which shows the IAP pricing for the upgrade.
  - throwaway_xx9 10y ago
    Excuse me, but even free Virtualbox's performance is adequate for web development work. (I use a Macbook Pro and deploy into a local linux VM. I can snapshot a full VM in less than 10 seconds.) You may be referring to graphics performance, but not a lot of people use a VM for gaming. The huge advantage of free Virtualbox is that once you buy VMware Fusion, you're on an upgrade cycle for every new OS release. With free Virtualbox, you just download another one and you're golden.
  - toyg 10y ago
    Veertu's main obstacle is cross-platform support. The point of providing virtualbox images is that they will work everywhere. Look at the number of opensource projects distributing Hyper-V images, which has the exact same problem; and the OSX market is orders of magnitude smaller. I like the Veertu concept and I think it has its advantages, but realistically, it has no chance to encroach on VB's market share.
    - stephenr 10y ago
      This is why basically every virtualisation tool has "import from..." functionality
- Mister_Snuggles 10y ago
  VirtualBox and VMWare do very different things than lxc/Docker. VirtualBox and VMWare, for example, allow you to run Windows on a Mac, or FreeBSD on Linux, or Linux on Windows. lxc/Docker does none of this, it's simply a different technology with a different purpose.
  - criddell 10y ago
    Yes they are different technologies and have different strengths. Before Docker, a VM was just about the only way to decouple a software environment from specific hardware. Now some people are migrating from a VM to Docker if that's all they need. I have no idea how big the impact of Docker is on the various VM vendors, but it isn't zero.
morgo 10y ago
MySQL has done well also. Disclosure: I work on this team. Take a look at new features in 5.7 for example: http://www.thecompletelistoffeatures.com/ http://www.thecompletelistoffeatures.com/
- stephenr 10y ago
  .... Oracle bought a domain name just to list the new features in a minor version release? I know MySQL doesn't use Semver at all, and I know the domain probably cost 3/5 of fuck all, but still...
  - morgo 10y ago
    I bought the domain name. It's not a minor release. MySQL predates semver. It is not alone here (see Mac OS X; PostgreSQL etc.). But you will be happy to hear that the next version will be called 8.0.
    - stephenr 10y ago
      5.7... to 8.. Oh right, Oracle. Like how Java 1.5 became Java 5, eh. Is >=8 going to be Semver?
      - morgo 10y ago
        6.0 was a canceled release. 7.x. is used by Cluster. 8.0 is the next number along, and makes it easy to follow as "it just drops the 5".
      - toyg 10y ago
        Dude, Oracle is bad but when they bought Sun, they were already on Java 6. The "1.4 to 5" move was all Sun, back in 2004 -- and to be honest, it wasn't even a bad move.
  - sanxiyn 10y ago
    Looking at WHOIS, I think morgo bought the domain as an individual.
wavefunction 10y ago
The upgrade experience could use some polish. It seems like every time I fire vbox up locally it's prompting me to upgrade, which is a very clunky experience given the state of other software patching.
- saganus 10y ago
  This happens to me too but I thought I was going crazy! It's good to know I'm not alone in this. Also, since I don't remember the exact version I'm currently using it feels like I'm always using an old installation and that I ended up opening the wrong version... well that's some therapist money saved right there, thanks!