14 DAY TRIAL // Pat Lee of the VMWare team has announced via the company’s blog that a new version of its virtualization solution is available for Mac users. Released as a free update to existing customers, Fusion 3.0.1 adds new features, performance improvements and an array of bug fixes. Mac OS X Server improvements include faster boot times for Mac OS X Server guests.
“I am pleased to announce that VMware Fusion 3.0.1 is now available,” Lee writes. “The team has been working hard since we released VMware Fusion 3 at the end of October to add a few new features, improve performance, and fix over 50 bugs. For long time VMware Fusion users, VMware Fusion 3.0.1 is the first opportunity to take advantage of the new automatic updates feature in VMware Fusion 3, which we hope you enjoy!” the post reads.
The VMware staffer proceeds with highlighting some of the key changes available with Fusion 3.0.1. For example, Fusion is said to boast a faster 3D performance now, with the Windows Experience scores 20-80% faster than before on Mac OS X Snow Leopard, according to the team of developers. Moreover, the update should reduce the time for resuming virtual machines, while adding support for importing standalone VHD disks and Parallels Desktop 5 virtual machines into VMware virtual machines. A new 64-bit native networking subsystem to match the 64-bit native engine is also mentioned as a key addition.
In the full-length changelog, Softpedia was happy to spot a line of text reading “Unity View Improvements.” Unity hasn’t exactly been Fusion’s strong point over the course of its development, but a new “Always On” Applications menu should ensure better, less glitchy functionality. The function defaults to the active virtual machine and, if more than one virtual machine is running, the menu defaults to the one that has focus, according to VMware’s developers.
Shared/Mirrored Folders improvements are also mentioned in the release notes, as are improvements for the PC Migration Agent and Migration Assistant, WDDM (Windows Vista and Windows 7) Graphics, Linux, FreeBSD, and more.
For existing users of the software, Fusion (3.0) will offer to automatically download your update to VMware Fusion 3.0.1. Click on Download and Install and VMware Fusion will download and install VMware Fusion 3.0.1. Alternately, use the download link below to grab the update yourself. VMware will require you to enter your email and VMware password to sign in using its secure server.