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June 13, 2007

windows

For a limited time, get VMware Fusion on the cheap

Posted Jun. 13, ’07, 7:36 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Windows

VMware Fusion I’ve been talking about the little war between virtualization companies going on right now quite a bit. To sum up, Parallels and VMware have locked themselves into a deathmatch of sorts. As each company adds a new feature, the other scrambles to add that same feature to their own product. I haven’t seen software of any type being developed in such a rapid manner.

Up until recently, we knew the price for Parallels ($80). I made the assumption that VMware would price their software similarly. It turns out I was right. When VMware Fusion is released, it will cost $80 (surprise, surprise). However, if you’re a savvy consumer and want to place your bet on VMware producing the superior product, you can pre-order between now and the time of release in August, you can get it for a mere $40.

To be honest, I’m a little bit tempted to buy now (despite owning Parallels). That’s a really great price and Fusion offers some things that Parallels does not. First, it currently allows the use of more than a single core by a virtual machine. Second, you can run 64-bit operating systems (assuming you have a 64-bit machine). Finally, the disk images it creates can be read by their other products. While you may think that you need to buy their product for Windows or Linux, but you’d be wrong. You can download their free VMware Player software that allows use of existing virtual machines. It only lacks the ability to create.

So, let the flame wars begin. Which is better? Parallels or Fusion?


3 Comments

John said:

My bet is with parallels because it is easier to setup. Ease of use is key especially for Mac users who expect that type of computing experience.

June 13, 2007 8:33 AM
Todd said:


I own Parallels too. But, an upgrade to v3.0 costs as much as this discounted VMWare.


I would like to see a head to head comparison of the 3D acceleration support on each of them. I'm not much of a gamer, but I wouldn't mind being able to pull out my old copy of Unreal Tournament once in a while.


If VMWare Fusion was available when I got my MacBook Pro, I would have chosen it. They have a large library of pre-built VMs (virtual appliances they call them). Which can be pretty useful. And, VMWare is the dominant Enterprise player. If you come into contact with the IT industry at all, it's nice to have the option to run VMWare VMs on your Mac.

June 13, 2007 1:26 PM
Jeff said:

I've downloaded the version 4 beta because the Unity feature is exactly what I want. Unfortunately, in this beta it's buggy as hell. You get a menu of every program VMware can open, and that works fine; but when you close the menu and try to open something using Launch in the Applications menu... nothing happens, because your virtual machine has SHUT DOWN WITH NO WARNING WHATSOEVER. How do you know this? Go to your View menu, and see every choice greyed out. Evidently closing that initial menu turns off the virtual machine. I certainly hope that's not a "feature." As is, compared to Parallels' Coherence mode... there is no comparison, right now VM's "Unity" beta just plain SUCKS. Hopefully there'll be one more beta between now and August. $40 is a good deal, but not if the software doesn't work as advertised.

June 13, 2007 6:59 PM

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