Sun Microsystems has issued a major update to its powerful Open Source virtualization solution for Mac OS X, VirtualBox. The new release adds the ability to use Direct3D 8/9 applications / games (experimental) as well as Support for OpenGL 2.0 for Windows, Linux and Solaris guests, to name some key enhancements.

“Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) [...] VirtualBox is being actively developed with frequent releases and has an ever growing list of features, supported guest operating systems and platforms it runs on.”

The new features added in this major update include:

– Guest SMP with up to 32 virtual CPUs (VT-x and AMD-V only);
– Windows guests: ability to use Direct3D 8/9 applications / games (experimental);
– Support for OpenGL 2.0 for Windows, Linux and Solaris guests.

As for the most relevant bug fixes listed in the release notes, those include:

– Virtual mouse device: eliminated micro-movements of the virtual mouse, which were confusing some applications;
– GUI: redesigned settings dialogs;
– Shared Folders: sometimes a file was created using the wrong permissions;
– Shared Folders: allow to change file attributes from Linux guests and use the correct file mode when creating files;
– Shared Folders: fixed incorrect file timestamps, when using Windows guest on a Linux host.

Sun Microsystems' VirtualBox lets users create virtual machines in which they can install their operating system of choice. The solution is similar to those advertised and sold by VMware (VMware Fusion), or Parallels (Parallels Desktop). However, VirtualBox is free to download and use for anyone packing the necessary hardware. The software is a feature-rich, high-performance product for enterprise customers. Available as Open Source Software, VirtualBox is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

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