Parallel Desktop Or VMWare?

I use VMware Fusion, and like it a lot.

It's also currently cheaper than Parallels.

 

The fanboys and home users will prefer Parallels but professionals have often more invested in software and want platform independence and will select VMware. Easy to move from one host OS to another host OS, even to mainframes.

Nothing to do with one is better than the other, just a pure business decision not to be held to ransom by a single vendor.

 

Just use free virtualbox. Frankly, I dont understand why people buy these things.

 

If you are running a business then you need thorough testing and support so that when you do run into incompatibilities (or other problems) it will get fixed. Performance and ability to move to other hardware is also a consideration.

 

VMWare kicks ass, however I've been using P7 since release and love it. Installing particular VM's and handling on the fly configuration is generally quicker with P7. VMWare fusion is a nice product but compared to VMWare's other products it's the child that was left behind.

Edit:

Ooh the one down side to Parallels is the icon. I do believe this has been repeated over and over again but hopefully one day they will change it.

 

I tried VMWare when my company bought me a new MBP, but I get very erratic cursor behavior that just could not be tamed, and VMWare was of no help whatsoever. Tried VirtualBox and everything ran perfectly the first time. And although VirtualBox is free, it has the backing of Oracle.

 

Parallels' support is useless. Have been wanting to try it out - a trial version two weeks ago worked fine, got a license for more testing and now it keeps on getting itself in a knot. Waste of money and time.

 

Parallels is also a dirty app to remove. You actually have to get into terminal and remove stuff manually after looking up guides on the internet ala Windows style. In this sense, you could say the company succeeded in creating a Windows experience right down to the removal.

I actually had to dl the demo of the Lions update just to remove my previous version since the uninstall would not work. Even after the (2) uninstalls, you have to do the finder/terminal hunt for stray files.

 

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=13991843#post13991843