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I quite like VirtualBox. Yes, VMWare has strengths, but VBox works a treat, does the seamless-desktop thing with certain
hosts/guests, and basically why pay?
I use VMware Player when I'm doing stuff that requires direct USB access - it's a lot less hassle than VBox for that. You need to run it with admin rights, though, which is a snag.
But when I am revewing operating systems, I tend not to use virtual machines. I mean, sure, they work, but - for instance - one will not feel or experience the ways in which Ubuntu is a lot better than Windows unless one's running it on the actual hardware. E.g. the fast boot and shutdown times, the improved performance one gets when one doesn't need an antivirus program scanning every sodding disk access and all the crap that runs in the background in Windows.
Raw Ubuntu is quicker and feels quicker, and personally, I prefer the UI to Windows 7's. Win7 is the result of 17 years of work on the Win95 Explorer and yet in some ways it's inferior to the original. I preferred the original taskbar and the original file manager, TBH.
Ubuntu is a breath of fresh air.
And if Ubuntu is nice and quick, then the stripped-down "remixes" of it, such as Lubuntu and Bodhi Linux, can be breathtaking. You don't get a real feel for that in a VM.
Another issue is drivers. There's the delightful way that Linux and Mac OS X just use generic drivers, rather than Windows' endless dicking around with that vendor's particular driver for that rebranded Taiwanese POS and the pointless fucking icon it sticks in your notification area.
There's the joy of no serial numbers, no activation, and an OS that you can just copy onto an external drive or onto an entirely different PC with totally different hardware and which Just Works™ without falling in a heap because the drive controller chipset has changed or because you've changed more bits of hardware than some evil fatcat bastard's minions in Seattle have decided you're allowed to.
You don't get any of that in a VM.
Running an OS in a VM is like trying to understand what it's like to pet a cat, or perhaps cuddle a baby if you like the things, when it's in an isolation chamber and your arms are in giant rubber gloves and you're peering at it through a small window.
Yeah, it's better than nothing, but it's Not The Same. You don't get a real feel for it.
hosts/guests, and basically why pay?
I use VMware Player when I'm doing stuff that requires direct USB access - it's a lot less hassle than VBox for that. You need to run it with admin rights, though, which is a snag.
But when I am revewing operating systems, I tend not to use virtual machines. I mean, sure, they work, but - for instance - one will not feel or experience the ways in which Ubuntu is a lot better than Windows unless one's running it on the actual hardware. E.g. the fast boot and shutdown times, the improved performance one gets when one doesn't need an antivirus program scanning every sodding disk access and all the crap that runs in the background in Windows.
Raw Ubuntu is quicker and feels quicker, and personally, I prefer the UI to Windows 7's. Win7 is the result of 17 years of work on the Win95 Explorer and yet in some ways it's inferior to the original. I preferred the original taskbar and the original file manager, TBH.
Ubuntu is a breath of fresh air.
And if Ubuntu is nice and quick, then the stripped-down "remixes" of it, such as Lubuntu and Bodhi Linux, can be breathtaking. You don't get a real feel for that in a VM.
Another issue is drivers. There's the delightful way that Linux and Mac OS X just use generic drivers, rather than Windows' endless dicking around with that vendor's particular driver for that rebranded Taiwanese POS and the pointless fucking icon it sticks in your notification area.
There's the joy of no serial numbers, no activation, and an OS that you can just copy onto an external drive or onto an entirely different PC with totally different hardware and which Just Works™ without falling in a heap because the drive controller chipset has changed or because you've changed more bits of hardware than some evil fatcat bastard's minions in Seattle have decided you're allowed to.
You don't get any of that in a VM.
Running an OS in a VM is like trying to understand what it's like to pet a cat, or perhaps cuddle a baby if you like the things, when it's in an isolation chamber and your arms are in giant rubber gloves and you're peering at it through a small window.
Yeah, it's better than nothing, but it's Not The Same. You don't get a real feel for it.
