14 DAY TRIAL // Virtualization expert VMware has announced VMware Fusion 4, the latest version of its popular software that enables thousands of customers worldwide to run Windows programs on a Macintosh computer, side by side with OS X.
Following rival Parallels in its footsteps, VMware is making Fusion 4 immediately available for an introductory price of $49.99. The virtualization solution is said to make it even easier to run Windows on a Mac.
"Enhancements to VMWare Fusion 4 make it a breeze to run Windows and Mac Applications side by side on a Mac," said Pat Lee, director, client product management, VMware.
"Offering full integration into Apple OS X Lion, VMware Fusion 4 builds on our proven, award winning platform to provide an easy, fast and reliable way to run Windows applications on a Mac."
What Lee means by full integration is that, with Fusion 4, every Windows app becomes a Lion app, in terms of new functionality like Full Screen mode, Mission Control, Launchpad and other key features of Apple’s new operating system.
“VMware Fusion 4 is designed to provide the best Windows experience on OS X Lion. Add Windows programs to Launchpad, experience them in Mission Control, view them in full screen or switch between them using Mac gestures,” the company explains.
Besides the cool Lion integration, Fusion 4 brings more than 90 new features, including under-the-hood optimizations for today's multi-core Macs
It offers far more performance than its predecessor, Fusion 3, and is able to output even faster graphics (up to 2.5 times faster), VMware said.
Version 4 has been engineered as 64-bit Cocoa application, therefore is able to run Windows and Mac applications side by side “with incredible speed and reliability,” the company said.
To make Fusion even more Mac-like, VMware included a brand new settings menu, a redesigned virtual machine library and snapshot menu, and more.
What is probably the best news for business users, VMware Fusion 4 now supports OS X Lion in a virtual machine.
This means users can run OS X Lion, OS X Lion Server, OS X Snow Leopard Server, as well as OS X Leopard Server in virtual machines.
A trial version of VMware Fusion 4 can be downloaded using the link below.