VMWare Fusion 2.0 Public Beta 1 Now Available

[knightlie]

When Boot Camp arrived, I was like, WOW. I can use Windows on my Mac.

When Parallels arrived, I was like, WOW. I can use Windows on my Mac at the same time.

I'm not sure I get it much anymore though. I have one program that seems it will never move to Mac (Versacheck), and some files I'd like to archive as pdf's from Win software I no longer use <cough>Quark<cough>, so I tried the Fusion Beta this morning.

Yes, it takes forever to install. Even without debugging there's a bothersome lag. Fusion takes forever to start, requires my admin password, and has thrown me into BSOD after refusing to close. I can't set a Mac file to default open in a Windows program in Fusion (this would be the coolest feature I would like), so there's an unnecessary amount of hunting around required to do anything. Sure, seeing Windows Explorer on my Leopard desktop is a thrill for about 30 seconds, but the "Your computer may be at risk" "Do you want to activate Windows again?" popups--not so much.

If I want to use "real Windows," I can use Boot Camp. I'm even needing Versacheck less and less--who writes checks these days? Invest another $80 in a World of Windows? Parallels/Fusion is a nifty idea, but maybe just not that useful for my needs after all--I'll file it away with other novelties like Evernote... and GM's EV1.

Sounds like you have other problems with your Mac, I have none of the issue you describe, Fusion runs flawlessly. I certainly don't get any BSODs in Win908, 2000 or XP. But, as you say, it sounds as if you don't really need it anyway.

Edit: You mention debugging mode - if you're using the new beta then it's likely you're going to have problems - that's why it's a beta.

(Oh Gawd, I just put a music cd in and XP's "You put a cd in, do you want to import, play, show, play, copy, open folder, take no action???" dialog pops up. Windows in Fusion refuses to let my Mac or iTunes see the cd drive. This is why I loved Windows. Selfish bastard.)

You need to disconnect the optical drive from the VM using the icon on the lower-right corner of the window, or the appropriate menu option - Windows isn't "refusing" anything, the optical drive can only be seen by either OSX or the VM, but not both at the same time.

 

[aroundghost]

Hi guys!

Did anybody test Fusion 2 with Visual Studio 2008 / WPF yet? I'm using 1.1.2 now, and whenever I activate 3D acceleration, everything WPF looks strange. Without 3D it's pretty slow, though

I also tried WPF on 1.1.2, but it sucks.
So I'm now using Parallels. It's a little bit better than Fusion 1.1.2.

But from my view, VM and PD on Mac are neither far from perfect now. Hope to see the newest version of PD soon.
It's better that VM and PD can compete with each other

 

[Bakey]

Well Fusion 2.0 is officially a non-starter for my current Fusion 1.x VM's - it simply states that I don't have the correct permissions set and goes no further!

Re-installing 1.1.2 (or what ever the latest 1.x release is) kick starts it all back-up and we're cushdy & tickety-boo. With this in mind I think it's best I wait for the final release!!!

As for the Parallels vs Fusion argument - well, like so many on these forums, I'm the owner of both and prefer Fusion due to the fact that it acknowledges what an API call is when testing my Director projects that utilise BuddyAPI. Parallels simply refuses to play ball on this one...

So for me... Fusion all the way!

 

[krimsen]

I also tried WPF on 1.1.2, but it sucks.
So I'm now using Parallels. It's a little bit better than Fusion 1.1.2.

But from my view, VM and PD on Mac are neither far from perfect now. Hope to see the newest version of PD soon.
It's better that VM and PD can compete with each other

Good to know. I guess I'll be giving Parallels a shot, then.

 

[Dorfdad]

While Im all for Fusion getting better, Im not digging th enew BETA its much slower and slugginsh for me comparred to the old Parralles or Fusion.

I tunred off Debug and allocated enough RAM etc, but its just plain sluggish...

Unistalling ASAP. It's a bad idea to release this beta. I tried Guild Wars which I got working under Paralles pretty good, it takes 2 minutes to open under the beta FUSION.

 

[edenwaith]

VMWare vs. Parrallels

Does anyone know of a comparative review of Fusion and Parallels? Better yet, what does everyone here think? I primarily need to run QuickBooks Premier and also test Web pages -- and I'd like to be able to access Windows by remote controlling my Mac using LogMeIn, VNC, etc. Thank you.

I downloaded the trial versions of Parallels 3 and VMWare Fusion 1.1. I went in originally with a bit of favoritism for Parallels since they had been the early adopter, but I ultimately decided to give them both a fair shake.

I installed several different operating systems, including Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and Kubuntu 7. I think they are both good programs, and they each have their good and bad points, but in the end, nearly every install had some glitch when I used Parallels, whereas VMWare handled installing and updating the programs more reliably.

After reading about the updates, PLUS they are offering the upgrade for free to the current owners of VMWare, I am very pleased with this. Since I had very recently bought VMWare Fusion, I was a little worried that I would have to fork out yet some more money for an upgrade, but not in this case. Thank you, VMWare!

 

[krimsen]

So I tried Parallels. I have to say I enjoyed Fusion more. Although WPF runs fine with 3D acceleration in Parallels, it's only slightly faster than without in Fusion. Parallels seems to have issues with its mouse driver though, sometimes the cursor jumps a bit.

 

[TheChemist]

Does fusion 2 allow for compression as does Parallels?

That feature was lacking in fusion 1 which is why I stuck with Parallels.

 

[macwall]

I'm trying it out now and it's a lot better than v1.x

 

[dgdosen]

Supports Old School Gaming: Total Annihilation!!!

First off - I'm not too thrilled with the multiple Monitor support - I'm not sure if it is working properly - it seems to just let you drag the screen across multiple monitors. I may be confusing it as I have different monitors at different resolutions.

Second, I may be dating myself but old school Direct X Games work! I loaded up Total Annihilation in the past, and the graphics never looked right. Now they do! in the VM! Best RTS ever!

 

[dgdosen]

Second, I may be dating myself but old school Direct X Games work! I loaded up Total Annihilation in the past, and the graphics never looked right. Now they do! in the VM! Best RTS ever!

Check that - Still has a few bugs when moving that mouse around, or outside the scope of the VM window...

 

[balwx]

I'm thinking of trying this on my macbook. Is this easy to install (& possibly remove), if I decide?

Thanks folks?

 

[steve.buchen]

One Problem with Parallels and VM

The only complaint I with both of these programs is that they only recognize 2 of my 8 processors. When I was using bootcamp, it recognized all 8 of them. Bootcamp was a pain though and I didn't like Windows direct connection to the internet. I like how the virtual machines use NAT so windows isn't seen over the internet so script kiddies can't hack it as easily.

 

[pavelbure]

I tried Guild Wars which I got working under Paralles pretty good, it takes 2 minutes to open under the beta FUSION.

i tried final fantasy 11 under the old version and it was unplayable due to the graphics being messed up. i mostly just used it to see if my linkshell was doing something. this new version is just so slow i can't even log in to chat now.

 

[chas0001]

I'm thinking of trying this on my macbook. Is this easy to install (& possibly remove), if I decide?

Thanks folks?

It comes with an installer and and uninstaller so absolutely fine to give it a go. I run it on my macbook and its works well, although the fans do come on sometimes.

 

[knightlie]

Second, I may be dating myself but old school Direct X Games work! I loaded up Total Annihilation in the past, and the graphics never looked right. Now they do! in the VM! Best RTS ever!

That sounds good, I might finally be able to get Thief 1 & 2 working under Win98.

 

[knightlie]

Unistalling ASAP. It's a bad idea to release this beta.

It's a Beta - it means it's not finished and is being released for testing. That's what a Beta is, and that's the point of releasing it. Did you report your problems to VMWare?

 

[NickCatal]

I have only 1 question-
Does it play Half Life 2/CS:Source/etc?

 

[CartoonHeroII]

Games that work

Ok, so this excited me because of the DirectX 9 implementation. If it works great in the final version it might be what it takes to get my bro. to go Mac. Here's a list of games I took out of my bro's room that I've tried and whether they work or not:

Work:
Starfleet Academy
Freelancer (This was the most graphics intensive game I tested)

Not Work:
Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed - Very low frame rate
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast - No OpenGL support, won't even start

These were on a 2.8 Ghz iMac 24", 2 GB of RAM, ATI Radeon HD 2600 w/256 MB, fresh Windows XP install

Fusion is still in beta, but it ran smoothly for the most part. A few hiccups (like the task bar not always going away in Unity mode), but easily dealt with. Yeah these games probably aren't what most of you are playing, but it's what my bro. needs and maybe these ones are close to what you like. I'll try and update the list as I test more games. Overall I think this has some awesome potential.

 

[balwx]

It comes with an installer and and uninstaller so absolutely fine to give it a go. I run it on my macbook and its works well, although the fans do come on sometimes.

Thanks for the help. I'm going to give it a try soon.

 

[ScottFitz]

Ok, so this excited me because of the DirectX 9 implementation. If it works great in the final version it might be what it takes to get my bro. to go Mac. Here's a list of games I took out of my bro's room that I've tried and whether they work or not:

Work:
Starfleet Academy
Freelancer (This was the most graphics intensive game I tested)

Not Work:
Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed - Very low frame rate
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast - No OpenGL support, won't even start

These were on a 2.8 Ghz iMac 24", 2 GB of RAM, ATI Radeon HD 2600 w/256 MB, fresh Windows XP install

Fusion is still in beta, but it ran smoothly for the most part. A few hiccups (like the task bar not always going away in Unity mode), but easily dealt with. Yeah these games probably aren't what most of you are playing, but it's what my bro. needs and maybe these ones are close to what you like. I'll try and update the list as I test more games. Overall I think this has some awesome potential.

I've not read through this entire thread, but if you want to run games, would iit not make a lot more sense then to forego Fusion or Parallels and run the games via Boot Camp mode? Seems like you take out the middle man, you increase frame rates and such.

 

[Quillz]

I'm thinking of trying this on my macbook. Is this easy to install (& possibly remove), if I decide?

Thanks folks?

If you go into the Applications folder and then show the package contents of Fusion, you'll find it has an uninstaller script, very similar to what would occur if you dropped Fusion onto AppZapper.

Just give it a try, the great thing about virtual machines is that if it blows up, it won't affect your Mac in any way.

 

[MrSquibbles]

That sounds good, I might finally be able to get Thief 1 & 2 working under Win98.

Kickass games, dude!

 

[Panache01]

As soon as I get back to my computer its on.

 

[dgdosen]

Anybody try the multi-monitor feature? To me, it seems broke - as there really aren't more than one window for the PC, just an ability to spread it over multiple monitors, which I think you could do before...