Requirements : BeeFree OS, md5 : b70113ef1b121629881e295547013d0e, size : 71.2 MB
Oracle VM VirtualBox (formerly Sun VirtualBox, Sun xVM VirtualBox and Innotek VirtualBox) is a free and open-source hypervisor for x86 computers currently being developed by Oracle Corporation. Developed initially by Innotek GmbH, it was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 2008 which was in turn acquired by Oracle in 2010.
VirtualBox may be installed on a number of host operating systems, including: Linux, macOS, Windows, Solaris, and OpenSolaris. There are also ports to FreeBSD[4] and Genode.[5]
It supports the creation and management of guest virtual machines running versions and derivations of Windows, Linux, BSD, OS/2, Solaris, Haiku, OSx86 and others,[6] and limited virtualization of macOS guests on Apple hardware.[7][8]
For some guest operating systems, a "Guest Additions" package of device drivers and system applications is available[9][10] which typically improves performance, especially of graphics.[11]
VirtualBox was initially offered by Innotek GmbH from Weinstadt, Germany under a proprietary software license, making one version of the product available at no cost for personal or evaluation use, subject to the VirtualBox Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL).[12] In January 2007, based on counsel by LiSoG, Innotek GmbH released VirtualBox Open Source Edition (OSE) as free and open-source software, subject to the requirements of the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2.[13]
Innotek GmbH also contributed to the development of OS/2 and Linux support in virtualization[14] and OS/2 ports[15] of products from Connectix which were later acquired by Microsoft. Specifically, Innotek developed the “additions” code in both Microsoft Virtual PC and Microsoft Virtual Server, which enables various host-guest OS interactions like shared clipboards or dynamic viewport resizing.
Sun Microsystems acquired Innotek in February 2008.[16][17][18]
Oracle Corporation acquired Sun in January 2010 and re-branded the product as "Oracle VM VirtualBox".[19][20][21]
Licensing
The core package is, since version 4 in December 2010, free software under GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2). The separate "VirtualBox Oracle VM VirtualBox extension pack" providing support for USB 2.0 devices, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) is under a proprietary license, called Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL), which permits use of the software for personal use, educational use, or evaluation, free of charge.[22] Oracle defines personal use as any situation in which one person installs the software, and only that individual, and their friends and family, use the software. Oracle does not care if that use is for commercial or non-commercial purposes.[23]Prior to version 4, there were two different packages of the VirtualBox software. The full package was offered free under the PUEL, with licenses for other commercial deployment purchasable from Oracle. A second package called the VirtualBox Open Source Edition (OSE) was released under GPLv2. This removed the same proprietary components not available under GPLv2.[23][24]
Building the BIOS for VirtualBox since version 4.2[citation needed] requires the use of the Open Watcom compiler,[25] for which the Sybase Open Watcom Public License is approved as "Open Source" by the Open Source Initiative[26] but not as "free" by the Free Software Foundation or under the Debian Free Software Guidelines.[25][27]
Although VirtualBox has experimental support for Mac OS X guests, the end user license agreement of Mac OS X does not permit the operating system to run on non-Apple hardware, and this is enforced within the operating system by calls to the Apple System Management Controller (SMC) in all Apple machines, which verifies the authenticity of the hardware.[28]
