[Haifux] QEMU/KVM vs. VMWare: The beauty and the beast

[Eli Billauer]

Shachar Raindel wrote:

>
> A. VMware workstation used to be a GUI only program, but it is getting
> much better scripting abilities lately, and it supports roll-backs
> much better than how QEMU supports them (same back-end functionality,
> much easier to use GUI). Their USB support used to be very unstable
> about 2 years ago, but it is much better now.
>   
I don't know about VMware workstation, since I run VMPlayer. Right now I 
wonder if there's a nice way to tell a running vmplayer instance to shut 
down gracefully (something you'd like to do a minute before shutting 
down the whole system during an UPS situation).
> D. Your comparison is very task oriented - you are looking for a free
> solution to migrate your old computers, and are willing to spend
> considerable amount of time on that.
Yes, indeed. This is all about my own situation, as I said from the 
beginning. Even so, I think you can learn more from someone who tried to 
do something specific for a real-life purpose.

And yes, I'm ready to spend a lot of time on a free solution (even as in 
beer), even though some $200 are worth spending on that. I have a few 
problems with a paid-for solution:

(1) The piracy watchguard tends to kill the software sooner or later 
(what if someone wants to install XP on year 2020?)
(2) Users of "supported software" are commonly forced upgrades (and I 
hate playing with a working system)
(3) VMWare's site gives me the feeling that they are the kind of guys to 
drive you to a nasty point, and then ask for enterprise-scale kind of 
money to get out of it. That's why I began with asking if VMPlayer is a 
honey trap.

    Eli

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