Oracle releases VM VirtualBox 3.2.0

Oracle has announced the availability of version 3.2.0 of its open source VM VirtualBox desktop virtualisation application for x86 hardware. Version 3.2 is a major update, now re-branded as Oracle VM VirtualBox and is the first since Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems more than a year ago. The update includes several new features.

VM VirtualBox 3.2 adds support for some of Intel's latest hardware, such as Core i5, i7 and 5600 series Xeon processors, in-hypervisor networking, a completely re-worked storage I/O subsystem and Remote Display Protocol (RDP) video acceleration. Support has been added for deleting snapshots while the VM is running, for memory ballooning to dynamically change the amount of RAM used by a VM and for CPU hot-plugging for Linux and some Windows guests.

Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.5, the company's flagship Linux platform, desktop and server versions of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and Mac OS X guests – on Apple hardware only – are now supported. Other changes include new icons, support for multi-monitor guest set-ups in the GUI, NAT engine configuration and USB tablet/keyboard emulation.

Oracle reminds users that Virtual Box is free for personal use and that organisation and enterprise licenses are available starting at $50 per year. An OEM licensing program for partners that want to redistribute VirtualBox as part of their own solution is also available.

More details about the development release can be found in the Community Bulletin, release announcement and change log. VM VirtualBox 3.2.0 is available to download for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Solaris. VirtualBox source is released under version 2 of the GNU General Public License (GPLv2) while VirtualBox binaries are released under the VirtualBox Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL) licence.

See also:

• Announcement: VirtualBox 3.2 released, VirtualBox mailing list post.

(crve)