VirtualBox 3.0 Final Released

Boy, it feels like it was just a few weeks ago that the VirtualBox 3.0 beta was released. Oh, right… it was. This release set a new record for software moving from the beta to final release stage, but apparently the software was “virtually” finished… the developers simply wanted to have beta-testing go on for a few weeks before shipping it as final. So, if you’re a VirtualBox user, you’ll want to make sure you give this one a download.

As I mentioned in the news post a few weeks ago, 3.0 brings two major additions: Guest SMP with up to 32 CPUs and also the introduction of 3D support (OpenGL 2.0 for Windows, Linux, Solaris and Direct3D 8/9 for Windows). As I mentioned in a forum thread, I didn’t have the best of luck when testing out the beta, and for the most part, nothing has really changed with the final. Hopefully your experiences will prove better than mine.

In looking around the web, it seems that some people have even been able to get Aero to work, although I’ve yet to see a screenshot showing that to be the case. Ryan Paul at Ars Technica did show a screenshot of the 3D in action using Ubuntu, however, and it works well enough to even allow Compiz to function. For all we know right now, the 3D aspect might work better on certain cards, but I’m not so sure. In the screenshot below, you can see Windows Vista 32-bit running under the 3.0 final under Gentoo Linux, and neither can I get Aero to work, nor do I have more than one CPU core available (I specified two and three, neither worked).

I’ll have to give VB 3.0 a try on other OS’ and see if my luck improves. Either way, if you’ve ever wanted to run Linux under your Windows or vice versa, or even run a different Linux distro (or another OS) under your preferred OS, give the latest version a download… you’re likely to regret it.

VirtualBox 3.0, the newest version of Sun’s high-performance, cross-platform virtualization software, is now freely available for download. The new version can handle heavyweight, server-class workloads like database and Web applications, as well as desktop workloads on client or server systems. It can support virtual SMP (symmetric multiple processing) systems with as many as 32 virtual CPUs in one virtual machine and delivers enhanced graphic support for desktop-class workloads.