As far as book reviews go, from personal experience they are much harder to write then a review of a music album or live gig. So when reading VirtualBox 3.1 Beginners Guide by Alfonso V. Romero (Packt Publishing) I was surprised at how easy the book was to read and how an experienced VirtualBox user can dip in and find something new.**
VirtualBox is one of my favourite system virtualisation apps that I use on my Mac and my Windows machines. I’ve written about Virtualbox quite a bit and my own guide to install Windows on a Mac is one of my most popular posts.
I would have considered this book more for people starting out with VirtualBox, but the last few chapters and appendix are really for advanced users, quite serious chapters for Linux users or web developers looking at options for virtual appliances.
I can only have kind words for this book - the majority of which anyone would be able to follow. The Guide seems to be more useful for people running Linux and wanting to install Windows. Niftily, the book tries to overcome this with specific sections on how to install VirtualBox for Windows. Any reader will feel happy that the how to install Windows guest section relates to both XP and Win7, I hope there is a future revision of the book to include Mac OSx users.
The book does what it says, revealing the ‘robust capabilities’ of VirtualBox - at the end of the book, I was left unsure why I would want to download and use VirtualBox - but there again, if you’re reading this, the probably you are already using VirtualBox so you can go buy the book without worrying about this.
VirtualBox 3.1 Beginners Guide and the format of this book has a nice approach, there are many headings like ‘What just happened’ for short reviews and every section has a pop quiz that won’t keep you awake at night. These reviews and questions help keep you engaged even when you’re reading this book away from a computer screen.
VirtualBox 3.1 Beginners Guide from Packt Publishing is available now.
Packt Publishing provided a copy of this book for review. Thanks.
Tags:Read more from my blog for an introduction and quick tips on developing in Hugo or UCTD.
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An experienced management consultant and business leader interested in digital transformation, product centred design and scaled agile. If I'm not writing about living with UCTD (an autoimmune disease), I'm probably listening to music, reading a book or learning more about wine.
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