Most Ubuntu users have long known about Virtualbox, the confusingly-versioned (they have an “open source” version, and a “full” (their word, not fine) version ) VMware Workstation-like tool. It’s been in Ubuntu repositories for a while, and I like it quite a bit, though it’s never displaced VMware Workstation in my life.

I’ve been especially excited about the fact that they have a beta version of VirtualBox for the Mac, making it so users on all major platforms can have a similar experience and trade virtual machines around.(Yeah, I know that VMware Fusion virtual machines are pretty much interchangeable with VMware Workstation/ VMware Player machines, but there is no free VMware product for Mac users, so I hate having to check ahead/download trials for users, etc).

In any case, Sun is buying Innotek, and I think it’s great. Let’s hope they don’t pour Java into it! (just kidding. kind of.) One thing that I think has hurt Sun is that it doens’t make consumer products. Something Microsoft benefits from, and now VMware, is that consumer behaviors drive corporate decisions. People achieve consumer comfort with a product, and extend the relationship at work. Sun’s Scott McNealy would just rail against Microsoft quality. It’s not always about quality! It’s about not wanting to venture into the unknown. Sun having an easy to use desktop product like VirtualBox is actually pretty unique for them, and a really great change. (Apologies if they make all sorts of other consumer apps I don’t know about.)