VMware Fusion

List Price: $79.99 Discount Price: $55.00

Features:

• Run multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and Solaris, on your Macintosh at the same time as Mac OS X--without rebooting; copy or paste between operating systems, or drag and drop files from desktop to desktop
• Run Windows applications just like Mac applications--easily launch your Windows applications and switch between all your Windows and Mac applications; use your familiar Mac keyboard shortcuts the whole time
• Capture and save the exact state of your virtual machine with VMware Fusion's innovative Snapshot feature; if your Windows virtual machine becomes unresponsive, use the Snapshot feature to rollback to a known stable state with the click of a button
• Take full advantage of 64-bit and multi-core processors of your Mac for maximum flexibility--run 64-bit operating systems such as Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit Edition or leverage Virtual SMP to create and run multi-processor virtual machines
• Cutting-edge 3D technology even lets you to play select DirectX 8.1 games on your Mac; get full read/write support for CDs and DVDs and complete USB 2.0 support--even for proprietary video cameras, Bluetooth devices and other Windows-only peripherals

Customer Reviews:

Switched from Parallels, very pleased [Posted on 2008-05-02]
I originally switched to Fusion from Parallels because of difficulties running Ubuntu on Parallels 2.0. I had the choice between upgrading to Parallels 3.0 or switching to VMWare Fusion. Ubuntu ran without trouble on the Fusion demo, and Fusion was less expensive than Parallels 3, so I made the switch. I have been pleasantly and consistently surprised at the fine quality with which VMWare Fusion runs and the convenience it provides. It was certainly an upgrade from the Parallels experience.

VMWare Importer quickly and painlessly converted all my VMs from Parallels format to VMWare format (Windows & Linux VMs). I was able to continue to boot to Windows XP on my Boot Camp partition as well.

The Windows-specific features are also a big improvement over Parallels. Unity mode is an excellent experience. The desktop and taskbar disapper, leaving only your applications. Windows applications can be minimized to the Dock, and you can keep application icons in the dock to make launching them easier. To launch any Windows application, simply hit Command+L, type a few characters, and hit enter. It is a similar experience to using Quicksilver on Mac. Using VMWare Fusion, it is easier to launch Windows applications from Mac OS X than from in Windows itself. Additionally, your entire start menu and programs menu is available from the Applications menu in Mac OS X, if you prefer to drill down.

I bought the latest MacUpdate promo bundle recently, which included a license to Parallels 3, so I gave it a try. It was a bad experience. I installed Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop and Server editions. The Desktop edition, even with Parallels extensions, wouldn't connect to a network. The Server edition wouldn't boot at all after installation. Horrible experience. In contrast, Ubuntu 8.04 runs perfectly on Fusion with or without VMWare tools installed.

VMWare Fusion seems faster, but I have no numbers to back that up. It is much less painful to boot into a VM, so I find myself booting them more often. I use Excel fairly often, and find Excel 2008 for mac slow and lacking in features, so for anything more than a simple list, I just boot into Windows and use Excel 2007 instead. It seems that the VMWare technology that has been built over the last ten years to speed up server environments has made the leap to the Mac, and it shows. Parallels simply can't match the VMWare investment in technology.

Another unforeseen advantage to using VMWare fusion is compatibility with other VMWare products. There is a huge library of VMWare "appliances" available for download from their site, and if you use VMWare server (free) on Linux or Windows, those virtual machines can now also be used on your Mac. I also ran into three VMWare images in the wild that I wouldn't have been able to use on my Mac without Fusion: Nokia's Maemo SDK VMWare appliance, Mono's VM appliance, and Stoq's evaluation appliance.

Overall, Fusion is a much less frustrating experience, faster, easier, more flexible, and, for now at least, cheaper when compared to Parallels.

And couple points of criticism:

(An older version of) Fusion caused a Kernel panic on one occasion, though it may have been caused by bad RAM.

I wish VMWare tools had an Ubuntu compatible .deb file to make installation easier.

Command+L was a bad choice for the Launch Applications keyboard shortcut, since Windows+L locks your computer (i.e. sends you to the sign in panel, which is useful if you leave your machine). In unity mode it's fine, because it doesn't lock your VM, but in Single Window mode or Fullscreen mode, it will.

Windows within Leopard! [Posted on 2008-05-04]
installation was a bit of a pain. But, finally got it working and it does as advertised. I took my already existing bootcamp partition/installation and made it it's own. The only thing is that I had to re-register with Microsoft on the Windows XP code number. A year ago, I did the Win XP Bootcamp thing. Microsoft validated it through the typical MS internet check. Once VM was installed and I opened up Win XP again, I had to re-validate. No big deal, but be prepared to potentially have to call up Microsoft about it.

It really is like running another computer in the background of your Mac. When you're done with it, you boot it down just like any regular win xp installation.

Great promise - but not quite there yet [Posted on 2008-05-05]
Vista refugees like myself were stunned by Apple's decision to switch to Intel processors -- making the dream of a multifunction machine that could handle both Mac graphics and Windows business applications a reality. The Mac's (OSX 10.5; Leopard) rocksolid Boot Camp application made this easy ... although it requires time-wasting rebooting to switch back & forth between operating systems.

Products such as Fusion or Parallels take advantage of Intel's multi-core 'virtualization' feature that allows (more or less) peaceful coexistence of the two, presenting a Windows interface on the Mac desktop. It works surprisingly well, although rough edges made me return to the sturdier and faster, albeit more effort-intensive, Boot Camp. I'm certain that by version 2 the program will come closer to expectations. Fusion's greatest weakness is its bewildering and poorly worded manual; for instance, make sure (rather than 'maybe') to finish up Windows installation with the Mac installation disc, so as to get the proper Mac-to-Win translation drivers such as for networking, modem, sound and Bluetooth. The XP version SP2 (soon to be SP3) is recommended over Vista because it is more compact.

The ugliest problem - preventing me from further experimentation - is Microsoft's intrusive 'Windows activation'; on re-installing from Fusion to BootCamp I went through hours of hassle with a distrusting foreign service rep, who barely spoke English, and couldn't seem to grasp that I was reinstalling XP on the very same machine (but on a different hard drive). Never again! The software maker ought to reach some accommodation with Microsoft, or the product will not survive this monstrous roadblock.

Fine Product [Posted on 2008-05-05]
It worked fine. But I use Photoshop CS3 on Vista and needed all the memory I could get. When running Vista you must save a good chunk of memory for the MAC system. So I went back to BootCamp.

VM Fusion - Quick Access to Win XP [Posted on 2008-05-05]
I've had Fusion for about 4 months now and have enjoyed the quick access to Win XP without having to shut down the Mac to get at it - thought about trying out Boot Camp on the Mac instead, as Fusion doesn't take full advantage of the video card (looks like it emulates it and doesn't pick up DirectX or 3D completely) and there's a couple games on the XP side I'd like to see, but I was more interested in some of the other Win apps that it handles just fine (MS Money, etc.) I'm still impressed by how quick Win comes up from Standby and rebooting win if I ever need to goes quicker than it does on my actual XP machines. I'd rate it 5 (or more) if it took better advantage of the video card, but the graphics are still great and I think it's quicker (and more stable than Win XP on an actual PC - go figure...)

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