14 DAY TRIAL // VMware Fusion is a desktop product for Intel-based Macs, coming from the guys at VMWare Inc. which allows users to run x86 operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, NetWare and Solaris in separate virtual machines, all at once, along with Mac OS. The beta for this incredibly powerful piece of software has recently been updated, with the latest build delivering bug fixes, but also removing a workaround for an Apple bug.
VMware Fusion 1.1.1 incorporated a workaround for Apple bug 5679432 (Mac OS X hung under heavy disk load when unbuffered I/O was in use), VMware reveals. That version of Fusion disabled unbuffered disk I/O on Mac OS X 10.5 hosts, even if the user selected the Optimize for Mac OS application performance in VMware Fusion preferences. With the release of Mac OS X 10.5.3 last week, Apple fixed this bug, therefore VMware Fusion 1.1.3 removes the workaround when the guest operating system is Mac OS X 10.5.3 or higher.
VMware Fusion is built on VMware's advanced desktop virtualization platform, which not only lets you run traditional PC applications on your Mac, but also enables you, as a user, to choose from as many as 60 operating systems to run. VMware Fusion can use the full 16 GB of memory available with the Mac Pro and Xserve. This allows users to run multiple virtual machines at the same time.
VMware Fusion might just convince you to switch to Mac too. To move from a PC to VMware Fusion, all you need to do is use the free VMware Converter Starter Edition to transform your Windows PC into a VMware Fusion-compatible virtual machine. Copy the virtual machine from your PC to your Mac and that's it!
If you want to move from Parallels Desktop to VMware Fusion, use the free VMware Importer (beta) to transform your Parallels Desktop virtual machines into VMware Fusion virtual machines.
Best of all, when using Fusion, you actually get to do what you only dreamed of doing until now - share files between virtual machines and your Mac with drag-and-drop, copy-paste text and resize virtual machine desktops.
Click HERE to try out VMware Fusion 1.1.3 for 30 days. The update is free for all registered users. The full version of VMware Fusion costs $79.99.