News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

February 10, 2007

software

VMware plans 3D acceleration, stock offering

Posted Feb. 10, ’07, 8:48 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Software

VMware running DirectXScott, Derik and I had a chance to stop by the VMware booth at Macworld, where we duly ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the technology on display. If anything, though, it seems that the stuff they have up their sleeves over there is going to be even more attractive to Mac users.

Earlier in the week, a leaked video demonstrated an unreleased version of VMware that includes 3D acceleration. This has been one of the major ingredients missing from all virtualization systems, and it’s really the key thing keeping games from working well on the platform. The performance is pretty impressive, though we don’t know what the specs of the system are; it appears that they’ve got at least DirectX 8.1 working, which while not the latest and greatest version of Microsoft’s architecture, is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

VMware’s Regis “HPReg” Duchesne responded to the leaked video on his own blog, saying:

Somebody managed to get a hand on an internal beta build of VMware Fusion whose UI offers a way to accelerate 3D graphics in virtual machines, and even made a video of some serious 3D gaming action in Fusion.

[…]

The author of this video (a woman if the female voice-over is any indication?) is obviously a dedicated VMware and Mac zealot. While I wish we had done this video ourselves, given how well the video has been received so far, I can only say “Thank You”.

In related news, VMware’s parent company, EMC, has decided to sell 10% of VMware in an IPO. Knowing how virtualization has taken off in the last year, and what’s around the corner, I’d expect them to do quite well.

[via Infinite Loop]


1 Comments

Jack said:

Funny how the required element in all of this is still, well, WINDOWS??? Guess those MAC/PC adds are making a point....you know, MACS really are for fun stuff, as long as you're running virtual Windows or boot camp.......

February 10, 2007 11:08 PM

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