VirtualBox versus VMWare

[Clayton]

>  What are the relative pluses and minuses of VirtualBox and VMWare in
>  your opinion?  I use VMWare Workstation at the moment to run Windows
>  XP on a Linux system.  What would I gain and what would I lose if I
>  movesd to VirtualBox?  (I'd gain a bit of money at least!)

Plus points...
 - there is an OpenSource Edition (OSE), so if you prefer to use only
open source apps, that option is available.
 - there are precompiled binaries available direct from VirtualBox
that include more functionality
 - the OSE is in the Ubuntu repositories
 - the precompiled binaries install direct from DEB/RPM etc.  No
fiddling like with VMWare.
 - Seemless Mode is pretty cool (although also possible in VMWare)
 - general setup and install of guest OSes is easier (personal opinion)
 - it seems to have a smaller footprint on the system and runs faster
as a result
 - and probably the biggest plus in favor of VirtualBox.... it is
easier to manage through kernel upgrades and does not need 3rd party
patches to get it installed on a system with a kernel released after
the VMWare release (like is required with Ubuntu 8.04)

Minus points
 - getting USB to work takes a little fiddling - but it is well
documented, and not so hard to do
 - the OSE doesn't support USB or RDP (but the full version is
available for free download from Sun)
 - no equivalent to "VMWare Player"
 - drag/drop from host to guest (like I can in VMWare) doesn't seem to
work (for me) but shared folders fill that gap.

Overall, I just prefer VirtualBox to VMWare.  In the end, they both do
the job as intended.. virtualisation.  If you don't have a license for
VMWare, then VirtualBox is the way to go... if you already have a
VMWare license... then I suppose it comes down to personal choice.

C.