VMware vs. VirtualBox
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I've been reading more and more about VMware Workstation and Fusion devs getting the axe. Scott Alan Miller made a point in one post, that said people are more stringent about choosing a hypervisor, than they are about choosing something like a desktop. I do agree with that as I've bounced back and forth between VirtualBox and Workstation. Some love VirtualBox because of the price, others like Workstation because of their own reasons. I know some differences in the past had to do with cloning/snapshots/network adapters. But I've saw everything pretty much blend together now. What is your preference, and why?
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I like VirtualBox. I don't want something that I have to pay for unless there is a significant benefit. Using VirtualBox means I can use it at work or home or anywhere, without worrying about licensing. I can install it in as many places as I want. I can recommend to clients anytime. I can deploy to clients with nothing more than tacit approval, no purchase process in the way. I can use it to solve problems now rather than sometime after licensing is hammered out and money approved.
I'm always very happy that it is open source, actively developed and well supported.
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@scottalanmiller Aside from the cost, and the uncertain development of VMware Workstation... do you see any benefits of VMware Workstation over VirtualBox? With more recent advances in VirtualBox, I'm struggling to find more advanced features in VMware Workstation on any level.
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I setup VMWare workstation for a home user only because the UI was much nicer/prettier to look at in 2014.
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Apart from that, Virtual Box does more and is completely free.
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@Breffni-Potter said:
Apart from that, Virtual Box does more and is completely free.
Can you define "more"? I've found them both to be nearly identical in feature sets more recently, unless you're in a vSphere environment in which case it is easier to build in Workstation and upload to vCenter. But I am now in a Hyper-V environment so that point is irrelevant.
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@Breffni-Potter said:
Apart from that, Virtual Box does more and is completely free.
What more does it do?
I ended up paying for Fusion since I'm on a Mac, and the performance difference seemed apparent to me. I'm thinking about switching back now though.
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Does VMware Workstation offer consoler over network with something like VNC or RDP?
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@scottalanmiller said:
Does VMware Workstation offer consoler over network with something like VNC or RDP?
I'm fairly certain they both support VNC/RDP now. From what I've been reading as well on dates, they've both been supporting it for a little while.
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I tried Fusion on my MacBook Pro back when I bought it. I did not like it and bought Parallels instead.
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@JaredBusch said:
I tried Fusion on my MacBook Pro back when I bought it. I did not like it and bought Parallels instead.
I had both and went back and forth on which one I liked all the time.
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@BBigford said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Does VMware Workstation offer consoler over network with something like VNC or RDP?
I'm fairly certain they both support VNC/RDP now. From what I've been reading as well on dates, they've both been supporting it for a little while.
I haven't used VMware Workstation since the early 2000s. But I know that VBox has had both for a very long time now.
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@scottalanmiller said:
I haven't used VMware Workstation since the early 2000s.
Well at almost $300 I can see why.
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Yes, sure not going to spend $300 when VBox is free.
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You can also use Vmware Player, It's free, main problem it that does not support snapshots.
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@iroal said:
You can also use Vmware Player, It's free, main problem it that does not support snapshots.
Given the limitations of the free version, why it over VBox?
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@scottalanmiller said:
@iroal said:
You can also use Vmware Player, It's free, main problem it that does not support snapshots.
Given the limitations of the free version, why it over VBox?
I prefer Vbox of course.
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When I've used it I do like VMWare workstation but I won't pay the license myself so use VBox instead.
