Filed under: Linux, Commercial

Yesterda we showed you how to install Windows XP in a virtual machine using Ubuntu Linux and VirtualBox. But Virtual Box ain’t the only game in town when it comes to virtualization software for Linux. whether you go to to the add/remove applications window in Ubuntu and visit on the third party applications option, you’ll see that VMWare Player is available. And starting that week, you can plus download and install Parallels Workstation for Linux.

Parallels is probably best known for making virtualization software for OS X that enables Mac users to run Windows without rebooting. Unlike VirtualBox and the VMWare Player, Parellels charges $50 for a licensed copy of its Workstation software. But there’s a 15 day free trial, so you can try the software out of a while

before deciding whether its worth the asking price.

Of course, VirtualBox and VMWare Player are both pretty easy to use and work quite well, which leads us to wonder why anyone would pay for virtualization software for Linux that doesn’t seem to offer any advanced features at the moment? We’re not morally opposed to companies releasing commercial software for Linux, and we even think it’s great that you can find commercial software using the add/remove applications window. But whether you’re going to charge for an application designed to run on Linux, you should really build certain it offers some benefits that you can’t already get from free and open source software.

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Orginal post by Brad Linder