If you've read this blog previously you'll know that I use virtualization software. At first I ran VMWare Server 1.x. When 2.0 came out I gave it a try. VMWare Server 2.0 requires way too much effort to install. And like VMWare Server 1.x, 2.0 has the same intermittent inability to cut and paste. If you haven't been bitten by the "VMWare Server Cannot Copy/Paste" bug, you're lucky.

I recently tried out VirtualBox. In my opinion, VirtualBox is a much better product than VMWare Server 1.x and VMWare Server 2.0. Here's why:

• Simpler install process (installing VMWare Server 2.0 is a bear)
• Higher performance (VirtualBox boots a Windows VM in 1/2 the time that VMWare Server 1.X takes on my machine)
• Better platform support (VirtualBox includes real support for Vista and Windows 7, and seems to support nonstandard Linux distributions better than VMWare)
• It's easy to share a host filesystem folder with VMs
• VirtualBox has a streamlined desktop GUI, not a clunky web-based GUI like VMWare 2.0
• VirtualBox seems to be more frequently updated. Considering how many bugs are in VMWare Server (versions 1.x and 2.0), it's astonishing to me that neither version has been updated in the last four months.

The only negative I've encountered with VirtualBox is that I could not get USB support to work. But since folder sharing was easy and reliable, I can get by without USB support for now.

I'm using VirtualBox to test Vault 3 on a variety of OS platforms (Windows XP, Vista, Ubuntu, Linpus Linux Lite, etc.) Since Vault 3 runs on myriad OS platforms, virtualization software makes testing it on multiple platforms much more convenient.

If you using virtualization software, I recommend that you give VirtualBox a try. I think you'll like it. And like me, you may end up uninstalling VMWare.

Also, if your hardware supports it, I recommend enabling VT-x/AMD-V, which appears to be necessary to run multiple VMs simultaneously. Check the checkbox in the Settings / General section, in the Advanced tab.