Somebody on another list pointed out to me that Windows 7 is supported on VMWare Fusion 3 . but wait, there's more .
Since yesterday, Fusion 3 is available for preorder. Which means it's really really coming out soon. >From VMWare.com: "Buy VMWare Fusion 2.0 today and automatically get a free upgrade to Fusion 3.0" And Fusion 3 is reported to be the only VM that supports Aero. I wonder what happens if you try to turn on Aero with Parallels? Now I want to evaluate Fusion 3.0 Trial . but can't seem to find it available. > -----Original Message----- > From: Carl Alexander [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 2:16 PM > To: Edward Ned Harvey > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: Re: comparison of VMWare Fusion 2.0.5 and Parallels Desktop > 4.0 (for running windows) > > Just a couple of quick comments: > > 1) Your mileage may vary --- pick one, install it, and test it > thoroughly for your intended purpose during the free return > window. If it doesn't work, try the other one. I, for instance, > found out this way that QuickBooks Pro 2005 (which is the entire > reason I run Windows) simply would not install on a Parallels > VM. A little digging found this to be a known problem with no > solution. (I switched, and it installed fine on a VMware Fusion > VM.) I would not be the least bit surprised if there are apps > for which the reverse is true. > > 2) WRT the VMware partnership with McAfee: Having this morning > fired up Fusion and gotten the 'a newer version is available' > dialog, I happen to be looking right now at the downoad page > for VMware Fusion 2.0.6. Which offers, as has every other > version of this page I remember seeing, the option of downloading > Fusion with McAfee - or without it. I, as always, downloaded > and installed the version without it. This -does- mean that > I have a greyed out "Install McAfee Virusscan Plus' menu item, > but I can't quite manage to muster any annoyance over this fact. > > ---Alex > > > For most peoples' purposes, these are both awesome products, very > feature > > rich, and equally priced. It's nearly a coin flip to choose which > one is > > better, but depending on your needs, one might have a differentiator > for > > you. > > > > > > > > For me personally, based on all the stuff below, the deciding factor > is > > support for Windows 7. I am going with Parallels mostly based on > this > > differentiator. > > > > > > > > Stuff that's the same > > > > . Both have built-in converters that allow you to easily > migrate a > > VM. Parallels lets you import a Fusion machine, and Fusion lets you > import > > a Parallels machine. And so on. Both products can handle VMWare, > > Parallels, VirtualPC or VirtualBox, or any older version of the > software. > > > > . Both have fullscreen mode, windowed mode, or "unity" vs > > "coherence" > > > > . Both allow you to share files easily between the Mac and > your > > guest Windows > > > > . Both support 3D graphics > > > > . Both are very feature rich, with ability to > start/stop/add/change > > network adapters, cd drives, floppy, usb, sound, parallel ports . > while the > > guest is running. > > > > . The following is a matter of personal opinion. I think > that > > neither Unity or Coherence is very good. They both have severe > problems > > with Expose and Spaces. I recommend: Don't use Unity or Coherence. > With > > either product, just run in full screen mode, and give windows its > own > > dedicated Space. > > > > . Both products do snapshotting and can auto-snapshot your > systems > > periodically for safety reasons. > > > > > > > > Stuff that's better in Parallels > > > > . Parallels Explorer is an app which allows you to mount the > hard > > disk of a guest OS while the guest isn't powered on. So if you don't > always > > have your guest on, you can easily add/remove/copy files to/from the > guest. > > And you can recover files out of a guest if that guest has somehow > become > > corrupted or unbootable. > > > > . Windows 7 is a supported guest OS in Parallels. By > comparison, in > > Fusion . there are articles written on "how to make windows 7 run in > > fusion," but officially it's not a supported OS, and many articles > have been > > written by people having difficulties. > > > > . The default keymappings & mouse mappings of Parallels > simply make > > sense. For example, ctrl-shift-click is to right-click. By > comparison, in > > fusion, the default is ctrl-click to right-click. Now how are you > supposed > > to ctrl-click to highlight more than one item??? It's a default > setting > > which is dumb, but fortunately very easily configurable. You just > have to > > be aware, "as soon as I install Fusion, go change the key mappings." > > > > . In addition to the other screen modes, Parallels has a new > mode > > called "Modality," which allows your whole windows machine to be > always > > present, but partially transparent as long as you're looking at a Mac > app. > > > > . Umm. This is really a mild irritant about Fusion. VMWare > > apparently formed a partnership with McAfee to incorporate McAfee > into > > Fusion. It will prompt you to install McAfee, even if you already > have > > antivirus running. And even after you say No, it's always present > under the > > "Virtual Machine" menu. > > > > . In Parallels, you can configure your VM to start in > whatever > > display mode you like. Fullscreen, coherence, modality, whatever. > By > > comparison, unfortunately, Fusion can only startup in windowed or > fullscreen > > mode. You can't start Fusion in Unity if that's your preference. > You have > > to wait till it's up, and then switch. > > > > > > > > Stuff that's better in Fusion > > > > . When you enable sharing between guest & host, the > performance in > > fusion is superb. It's as fast as browsing a local hard disk. By > > comparison, sharing between guest & host in parallels is . slow > enough that > > I only use it when I have no other choice. If there's a set of files > in the > > mac that I need regularly in windows, then I copy them locally inside > > windows so I don't need to rely on the sharing regularly. > > > > . This is unconfirmed, but . I hear if you have an ESXi > server, you > > can simply copy your VM files to it, and run your VM on a different > set of > > hardware for a while, if you have something which will be compute > intensive > > or memory intensive, or if you have any other reason why you'd want > to run > > your VM on a different machine for some reason. > > > > . You can make your Mac Firefox (or whatever) the default > handler > > for http:// and ftp:// urls and so on. By comparison - both products > allow > > you to specify mac or windows handler applications for any file type > you > > want, but only Fusion has the ability to extend that to URL handlers. > > > > > > > > Stuff that's different, but not a clear differentiator pro/con for > either > > product > > > > . Suppose you like Unity or Coherence. In Parallels > coherence mode, > > the Start Menu and Taskbar is always present. In Fusion unity mode, > there > > is an option: You can have the start menu & taskbar always present, > or you > > can get rid of them and all of the items of the start menu appear in > a > > mac-integrated way under the Fusion menus. > > > > o By default, Fusion uses the "don't show taskbar" mode, which is > more > > mac-integrated. It's good if you like this option. However, if you > do > > this, then you cannot see your System Tray icons, for example, to > check the > > status of Outlook or Windows Updates. So personally I don't like the > "don't > > show me the taskbar" mode. This actually just creates a new chore > for me, > > when I first install Fusion, if I am going to use Unity, then I have > to > > remember to go find the checkbox, and override the default behavior, > to make > > it more parallels-coherence-like. > > > > . In Fusion, you access the Fusion menu by just bringing your > mouse > > to the top of the screen. In Parallels, you access the Parallels > menu by > > pressing Ctrl-Alt > > > > o Personally, I prefer the Parallels way, because I already have > things > > like Remote Desktop and VNC Viewer which use the top edge of the > screen. > > Also it's really easy to accidentally hit the top edge of the screen > when > > you're just trying to hit the "File" menu of some application or > whatever. > > But you never accidentally hit the Ctrl-Alt keys, and I don't find it > > inconvenient to do so when I want it. > > > > . Parallels has 14-day trial, while Fusion has 30-day trial _______________________________________________ bblisa mailing list [email protected] http://www.bblisa.org/mailman/listinfo/bblisa
