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How To Run Proprietary Windows App, BootCamp or Virtual?

wirelessmacuser

wirelessmacuser

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 20, 2009
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Planet.Earth
At work we use a proprietary Windows only application that is not too much unlike Microsoft Outlook (as an example). It's the only windows software I will need to run on my Mac.

My question is what is the best way to run it, so my Mac stays cool, and reliable? I'm not interested in running any of the "free trials" they offer as time is at a premium, as I'm sure it is for you.

I'm not opposed to using BootCamp even though it would be dual boot that way. I'm a bit hesitant about VMware or Parallels, for just one application, but open for suggestions.

Thanks!
 
wirelessmacuser said:
At work we use a proprietary Windows only application that is not too much unlike Microsoft Outlook (as an example). It's the only windows software I will need to run on my Mac.

My question is what is the best way to run it, so my Mac stays cool, and reliable? I'm not interested in running any of the "free trials" they offer as time is at a premium, as I'm sure it is for you.

I'm not opposed to using BootCamp even though it would be dual boot that way. I'm a bit hesitant about VMware or Parallels, for just one application, but open for suggestions.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

VMware or Parallels would both be good options and a logical solution as you could run Windows simultaneously. Can't see why you'd have a heat problem, etc. with that scenario. IMHO, Boot Camp is the best option for VERY INTENSIVE processor/memory apps like games, etc. All others can use the emulation software with no problems. As always..YMMV.....

BTW, OWC at macsales.com has Parallels for under $50 these days. Pretty good deal. (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Nova Development/40912/) I have the exact configuration you have and Parallels is working just fine.
 
VirtualBox

I agree that CrossOver or DarWine are great options for old programs. Try those first (DarWine is free, CrossOver is basically a user-friendly commercial version of DarWine). Another (free) option to check out is WineBottler. I haven't used it, but it looks promising.

If they don't work, I recommend VirtualBox. It's an open source and free project maintained by Sun, and while it doesn't have quite all the bells and whistles of Fusion or Parallels, it's worked wonderfully for me. It can even let your Windows apps look like they are native with Seamless mode (exactly the same as Unity in Fusion or Coherence in Parallels).

As a webmaster/designer/etc, I use VirtualBox to check pages in Windows browsers, and newer versions of IE won't run in any Wine implementation, and even IE6, which does run, doesn't look the same in Wine.
 
ask your firm if they have it with Citrix XenApp. That's what we had when I needed to run an extremely important windows app on our macs.
 
I agree, either VirtualBox or DarWine are probably best...they are free and one or the other will definitely work.
 
Thanks everyone, for the ideas.

I've researched Crossover, and that won't do it. I'm not focused on the price, but rather the "best" way to go about this. Again, my goal is to run just the one proprietary program we use, which is not a demanding resource intense program, so hopefully heat will not be an issue. That's the only reason I mentioned that I was "hesitant" to use a Virtual solution. My goal is to keep my MBP running cool over long periods time when I'm not pushing it with design software.

My guess would be that either VMware or Parallels would be fine, the question at this point is which provides the best "Mac Like Experience?"

So VMware or Parallels?

Cheers... :)
 
I just started using VMWare Fusion yesterday and wanted to be able to run my WBFS Manager program in VmWare Windows but it doesn't run properly. The fields in the program show up with strange characters.. although I didnt have time to look closely at what the problem is. So my first run with VMWare has been with hiccups...
 
Were you using Fusion 3.1?

OP, if you use VMware Fusion, you can have it hide the Windows desktop and you can access all Windows program from an icon in the menu bar. Unity is a great feature.
 
How To Run Proprietary Windows App, BootCamp or Virtual?

How hard do you push your MBP normally? Say if you do alot of batch processing, encoding/exports etc or any resource hungry tasks and processes, you may end up having less available resources due to allocations to the virtual machine. If this is not the case, then running a virtual machine shouldn't be a problem especially with you MBP config.

If your app is similar to Outlook, its probably better to go the VM route. A dual boot just to check your mail sounds a bit excessive and inefficient for yourself and your MBP.
 
Please excuse this slight off topic post.

I'm in the same situation, I want to run Minitab, a statistics software which is Windows only. From what i'm reading, i can get VMWare, install windows 7 then install Minitab using VMWare into the window's 7 hd partition?

Thanks!
 
bigjobby said:
How hard do you push your MBP normally? ]
If your app is similar to Outlook, its probably better to go the VM route. A dual boot just to check your mail sounds a bit excessive and inefficient for yourself and your MBP.
Click to expand...
I push it _hard_ about 70% of the time. Yet that said, the rest of the time it's doing non resource intensive work. Our proprietary app is a CRM type app so that doesn't use much in the way of resources, and I don't need to access it when my Mac is going the heavy lifting if you will. Sounds like the general consensus is to run Parallels or VMware.

Thus the only remaining question is Parallels or VMware?

It's the Mac experience I want to retain. The "look and feel" of the Mac OS

Suggestions?

Thanks everyone... :)
 
wirelessmacuser said:
I push it _hard_ about 70% of the time. Yet that said, the rest of the time it's doing non resource intensive work. Our proprietary app is a CRM type app so that doesn't use much in the way of resources, and I don't need to access it when my Mac is going the heavy lifting if you will. Sounds like the general consensus is to run Parallels or VMware.

Thus the only remaining question is Parallels or VMware?

It's the Mac experience I want to retain. The "look and feel" of the Mac OS

Suggestions?

Thanks everyone... :)
Click to expand...

Honestly I'd save some money and go with VirtualBox...it's free...has unity mode...and you can pause the virtual machine when you need to free up the processor...all for free. The only advantages that VMWare or Parallels has is that they use 3D graphics better and do a few things better...but for what you need to do VMWare and Parallels will be a waste of money for using only one program.

BTW...I know there is this popular idea that if it's free then it's crap...but for 90% of tasks VirtualBox is basically the same as VMware and Parallels for "free"...you said yourself that the program you're going to run uses very little processor power so you don't really anything more than VirtualBox...and if you find it doesn't do what you need then you can always go to VMware or Parallels and migrate you virtualmachine file.

http://www.virtualbox.org/
 
matthewmyates said:
Honestly I'd save some money and go with VirtualBox...it's free...has unity mode...and you can pause the virtual machine when you need to free up the processor...all for free. The only advantages that VMWare or Parallels has is that they use 3D graphics better and do a few things better...but for what you need to do VMWare and Parallels will be a waste of money for using only one program.

BTW...I know there is this popular idea that if it's free then it's crap...but for 90% of tasks VirtualBox is basically the same as VMware and Parallels for "free"...you said yourself that the program you're going to run uses very little processor power so you don't really anything more than VirtualBox...and if you find it doesn't do what you need then you can always go to VMware or Parallels and migrate you virtualmachine file.

http://www.virtualbox.org/
Click to expand...

Your take on this sounds great. Having worked in the windows world for so long, I do know that freeware can be quite good. After VirtualBox came to my attention and I checked out their site, it does indeed seem to be a viable solution. At that point it was a matter of hearing from a few people that are using it. Thanks for your feedback.

Cheers... :)
 
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