OK, so I'm currently looking for some VM software I can run on my home PC.

At work, I use VMware Workstation. Which works vastly better than 
anything else I've seen, but it's expensive. Really expensive. I just 


There is VMware Player, of course. That's free. But being free it's also 
crippled with all sorts of artificial limitations; no linked clones, no 
snapshots, no teams. Basically it lets you run another OS, but without 
any of the benefits of a VM.

In the past, I've tried BOCHS and QEMU. The interface is CLI-only. You 
have to manually manage all the files involved. You end up having to 
write elaborate scripts to fire up a VM. It works, but it's extremely 
complicated. Plus this stuff runs very, very slowly.

I also tried Virtual Box. This offers a familiar GUI interface. (And I 
particularly like the way each VM has its own window, so you can SEE 
multiple VMs at the same time. On the other hand, it lacks activity 
lights...) However, there are two main problems with it. The first is 
that you still have to manually manage disks and VMs separately. But the 
big, big problem is IT'S TOTALLY UNRELIABLE! It just will NOT do what 
you tell it to. The number of times it's crashed on me, or a particular 
VM has become unusable is utterly unacceptable.

Are there any other VM products with investigating? (Clearly there are 
other VM products; I'm asking whether any of them are any good.)

Post a reply to this message