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Friendly reminder that if you install virtualbox with guest services at work, Oracle lawyers will eventually demand a huge sum from your company.

by zibzab 4y ago

maicro 4y ago
I consider the reminder friendly, but definitely not what it implies... Any source on this? By guest services, you mean the additional "click this to install some custom stuff in the running VM so it works better" step? And if so, just after doing that, or VirtualBox in general?
notreallyserio 4y ago
I did a tiny amount of searching to verify this but came up empty handed. Guest additions (what I think you meant) is GPLv2, so it should be free for use.
- dspillett 4y ago
  > Guest additions (what I think you meant) is GPLv2 It is presumably referring to “VirtualBox 6.1.32 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack”: > Support for USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices, VirtualBox RDP, disk encryption, NVMe and PXE boot for Intel cards. > The Extension Pack binaries are released under the VirtualBox Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL). ref: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
  - rrego 4y ago
    The difficulty in distinguishing the two is likely intentional. At my previous org, Oracle sent a spreadsheet of IPs to my company's compliance department which they claimed were using the extension pack and so violated their license agreement. They demanded proof of the license. The vast majority including I, only ever used guest additions (GPL).
    - dspillett 4y ago
      > The difficulty in distinguishing the two is likely intentional. That would not surprise me. Back when we were considering virtualisers many years ago, the issue was one of the reasons² I recommended against vbox despite using it at home - it felt a bit too dark-patterny¹ for my tastes. We went with a VMWare tool instead. [1] though I'm not sure the term “dark pattern” had been coined, or if it had it was in my vocab, at that point [2] another being Oracles general behaviour at the time - this was after their purchase of Sun and therefore Virtual Box.
crad 4y ago
Have run into this multiple times with them in multiple companies. For those asking, it's about the "VitualBox 6.1.32 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack" - it's free to install but phones home and they reach out after a year or two of use and attempt to coerce you into paying for a license. Just ensure everyone has uninstalled it and tell them to go pound sand.
severino 4y ago
What exactly are "guest services" in VirtualBox?
- spicybright 4y ago
  I think it refers to extra integration features like window resizing, clipboard read/write, drag-n-drop files between guest and host, etc.
  - severino 4y ago
    Then he is wrong. That's GPL, you can get it installed straight from your distros's repo.
  - fletchowns 4y ago
    Those features are from VirtualBox Guest Additions. VirtualBox Extension Pack, on the other hand, provides support for USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices, VirtualBox RDP, disk encryption, NVMe and PXE boot for Intel cards.

Friendly reminder that if you install virtualbox with guest services at work, Oracle lawyers will eventually demand a huge sum from your company.

by zibzab 4y ago

Friendly reminder that if you install virtualbox with guest services at work, Oracle lawyers will eventually demand a huge sum from your company.

maicro 4y ago

I consider the reminder friendly, but definitely not what it implies... Any source on this? By guest services, you mean the additional "click this to install some custom stuff in the running VM so it works better" step? And if so, just after doing that, or VirtualBox in general?

notreallyserio 4y ago

I did a tiny amount of searching to verify this but came up empty handed. Guest additions (what I think you meant) is GPLv2, so it should be free for use.

dspillett 4y ago
> Guest additions (what I think you meant) is GPLv2 It is presumably referring to “VirtualBox 6.1.32 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack”: > Support for USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices, VirtualBox RDP, disk encryption, NVMe and PXE boot for Intel cards. > The Extension Pack binaries are released under the VirtualBox Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL). ref: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
- rrego 4y ago
  The difficulty in distinguishing the two is likely intentional. At my previous org, Oracle sent a spreadsheet of IPs to my company's compliance department which they claimed were using the extension pack and so violated their license agreement. They demanded proof of the license. The vast majority including I, only ever used guest additions (GPL).
  - dspillett 4y ago
    > The difficulty in distinguishing the two is likely intentional. That would not surprise me. Back when we were considering virtualisers many years ago, the issue was one of the reasons² I recommended against vbox despite using it at home - it felt a bit too dark-patterny¹ for my tastes. We went with a VMWare tool instead. [1] though I'm not sure the term “dark pattern” had been coined, or if it had it was in my vocab, at that point [2] another being Oracles general behaviour at the time - this was after their purchase of Sun and therefore Virtual Box.

crad 4y ago

Have run into this multiple times with them in multiple companies. For those asking, it's about the "VitualBox 6.1.32 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack" - it's free to install but phones home and they reach out after a year or two of use and attempt to coerce you into paying for a license. Just ensure everyone has uninstalled it and tell them to go pound sand.

severino 4y ago

What exactly are "guest services" in VirtualBox?

spicybright 4y ago
I think it refers to extra integration features like window resizing, clipboard read/write, drag-n-drop files between guest and host, etc.
- severino 4y ago
  Then he is wrong. That's GPL, you can get it installed straight from your distros's repo.
- fletchowns 4y ago
  Those features are from VirtualBox Guest Additions. VirtualBox Extension Pack, on the other hand, provides support for USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices, VirtualBox RDP, disk encryption, NVMe and PXE boot for Intel cards.