Re: [BBLISA] comparison of VMWare Fusion 2.0.5 and Parallels Desktop 4.0 (for running windows)

[John Orthoefer]

So Fusion3 according to VMWare should be out shortly. I was/am in the Beta test, right now we are on the RC. I doubt the eval version will be available before it's released.

ohno

On Oct 6, 2009, at 10:19 AM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote:

Those of us in the Beta are on the eval license right now, and the have a web page up which tells us how to downgrade to Fusion2 if we want to stop it complaining about the lack of a valid license. Personally I've been switching over to VirtualBox. Yes it's not as good as Fusion, or Parrallels (I own copies of both.) But it seems to work well enough for what I use it for. Which is mostly just testing, and using packages which just don't exist on the Mac/Linux (like VMware's vSphere product.) I've also looked at CrossOver which isn't a VM. It's a commercialized version of Wine, in general I've found if it's not on there page as 100% working it doesn't seem to work.

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.

upgrade to Fusion 3.0"


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.

From VMWare.com: "Buy VMWare Fusion 2.0 today and automatically get a free And Fusion 3 is reported to be the only VM that supports Aero. I wonder

-----Original Message-----
From: Carl Alexander [mailto:x...@mit.edu]
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 2:16 PM
To: Edward Ned Harvey
Cc: bblisa@bblisa.org
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

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