The Linux Ninja

Sun released the 2.2 version of VirtualBox, their desktop virtualization software, a few days ago. This is a major update for VirtualBox that includes Open Virtualization Format (OVF) import and export, 3D graphics acceleration for Linux and Solaris virtual machines, hypervisor optimizations, and host-only networking support. The OVF import and export is the feature that I find most intriguing. This will allow users to configure machines in a test environment and export them to a production environment or possibly even easily share virtual machines between VMWare, VirtualBox, and other hypervisors that support the OVF format. I’ve used both VMWare and VirtualBox, and while I still prefer VMWare Server/Player, the new features that VirtualBox continues to add with each release narrows the feature and performance gap with VMWare.