virtualbox

State of virtualization: Parallels 5.0 released, VMWare Fusion performance

Despite being a Mac fan for as long as I can remember I have always been intrigued with the ability to boot multiple operating systems. When Apple came out with the Quadra 630 and PowerMac 6100 models that had optional DOS cards in them, I was awed at the notion of quickly being able to switch over to Windows with a keystroke, and have since tackled many options for running other operating systems on my Macs, including emulation and the now popular virtualization solutions enabled by the current Macs' Intel hardware. There's something just fun about being able to boot and use multiple operating systems on a computer.… Read more

VMware Fusion 3.0 with 64-bit support announced; VirtualBox Updated

Since the release of Snow Leopard, many people who use virtualization solutions have been frustrated by the lack of 64-bit support for their virtual machines. The three popular programs Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, and Sun VirtualBox have so far been 32-bit only and while Parallels Desktop will run on the 64-bit Snow Leopard kernel and Virtualbox technically should as well, Fusion is still only a 32-bit application. VMware has a press release on their website that announces the release and availability of version 3.0 of Fusion, which brings 64-bit support along with other enhancements to the software.… Read more

VirtualBox receives major update

It's no secret you can run various flavors of Windows on Intel Macs using Apple's Bootcamp or other popular virtualization software options like Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion. Any of these work great if you need to run Windows software on your Mac or even test beta software worry free, but a fairly recent discovery of mine might be a better choice. VirtualBox is the free, cross-platform, open-source virtualization software I used to get the Windows 7 beta running on a Mac, and it just received a major update.

VirtualBox 3.0 (Windows or Mac) lets you create … Read more

Windows 7 on your Intel Mac - for free!

Most people who read The Download Blog are probably familiar with the coming release of Windows 7. For a full rundown of new features, check out Seth Rosenblatt's hands on post here, but there's plenty of Windows 7 content to pore over.

Judging from many of the comments, people who have used Windows 7 are saying it's the OS everyone hoped Vista would be. So when I read this week that you can easily setup and run Windows 7 in a virtual environment on an Intel Mac, I had to try it out. I can't advise … Read more

The Real Deal 112: Virtualization

Tom describes what virtualization is, and what his experiences with it have been. Listen now: Download today's podcast

Sun virtualizes for developers with Innotek buy

As with other companies serious about being viewed as virtualization players, Sun has found that one size cannot be made to fit all. Thus, Sun's early religion around the operating system containers built into Solaris 10 has given way to more of a toolbox approach that most notably also includes its Xen-based xVM Server.

Thus, Sun's most recent addition--the Open Source VirtualBox (by way of acquiring Innotek) isn't particularly surprising. But it makes a nice addition all the same.

VirtualBox is a "Type 2" hypervisor product, which is to say that it runs on top … Read more