Single Use License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, unless you have purchased a Family Pack or Upgrade license for the Apple Software, you are granted a limited non-exclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-branded computer at a time. You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-branded computer, or to enable others to do so. This License does not allow the Apple Software to exist on more than one computer at a time, and you may not make the Apple Software available over a network where it could be used by multiple computers at the same time.

As far as I see it, as long as I buy separate copies of the OS, and I run VirtualBox on my Mac, technically I can virtualise it. Though Apple may not see it like that...

The beta is available through the blog post linked to above.

So you would buy a Mac and buy Mac OS and then run Mac OS on your Mac (which is running Mac OS) inside a virtual machine? What exactly would the point of that be?

Sandboxing, software development/debugging, running unknown software, trying new things out, keeping automated regular easy backups of other work

+1

Also, if VirtualBox includes the code and it is shipped to all platforms, it then allows users to virtualise OS X on their Windows/Linux computers.

This is against the EULA, but that is for user to think about...I wonder if Apple will lean in and try to take the code out...

Or if they will change the EULA in 10.6.4...

They're much more likely to change 10.6.4 to stop is working - REF: Palm & iTunes.

Jon

I'm wondering how entirely straightforward that would be - how much of the process running the VM still relies on the mac hardware being there. It may only allow you to run Mac OS on a machine that has hardware that Macs also have for example, even if the VM in theory doesn't use it. I guess we'll see.

I tried installing it on my Windows laptop and it wouldn't install from the official OSX 10.5.4 disc. I'm probably doing something wrong, unless I've got the wrong end of the stick. Again.

I tried installing it on my Windows laptop and it wouldn't install from the official OSX 10.5.4 disc. I'm probably doing something wrong, unless I've got the wrong end of the stick. Again.

3.1.1 Mac OS X guests
Starting with version 3.2, VirtualBox has experimental support for Mac OS X guests. This allows you to install and execute unmodified versions of OS X on supported host hardware.
Whereas competing solutions perform modifications to the OS X install DVDs (e.g. different boot loader and replaced files), VirtualBox is the first product to provide the modern PC architecture expected by OS X without requiring any “hacks”. You should be aware of a number of important issues before attempting to install a Mac OS X guest:
1. OS X is commercial, licensed software and contains both license and technical restrictions that limit its use to certain hardware and usage scenarios. It is important that you understand and obey these restrictions. As a result, before attempting to install Mac OS X in a virtual machine, make sure you understand the license restrictions of the Mac OS X version you want to use. For most versions of Mac OS X, Apple prohibits installing them on non- Apple hardware. These license restrictions are also enforced on a technical level: Mac OS X verifies whether it is running on Apple hardware, and most DVDs that that come with Apple hardware even check for an exact model. These restrictions are not circumvented by VirtualBox and continue to apply. At this time, the authenticity check is only supported on Apple hardware running OS X so it will not work if you install e.g. Windows or Linux on your Apple computer.
2. Only CPUs known and tested by Apple are supported. As a result, AMD CPUs will never work at all, and if the Intel CPU is newer than the build of OS X, it will most likely panic during bootup with an “Unsupported CPU” exception.
3. The Mac OS X installer expects the harddisk to be partitioned so when it does not offer a selection, you have to launch the Disk Utility from the “Tools” menu and partition the hard disk. Then close the Disk Utility and proceed with the installation.
4. In addition, as Mac OS X support in VirtualBox is currently still experimental, please refer also to chapter 14, Known limitations, page 249.