VMware Fusion for M1 Macs Now Available as Private Tech Preview

[MacRumors]

VMware Fusion is now available as a private tech preview for M1 Macs, with users able to request access through an online form. A public tech preview will follow in around two weeks, according to a tweet from VMware Fusion manager Michael Roy.

VMware Fusion for M1 Macs will be quite limited in scope, with a focus on virtualizing Arm-based Linux distributions. VMware Fusion will not officially support Windows 10 on M1 Macs at launch, as Microsoft has yet to offer licensing for the Arm version of Windows 10. In a tweet, Roy said Windows 10 should still run when selecting the "other" operating system type, but VMware will not be shipping drivers or VMware Tools.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1436020270175690769

VMware Fusion will also not be able to virtualize Intel-based Windows or Linux distributions, while support for virtualizing macOS is not ready yet. In a blog post last April, Roy said "there isn't exactly much business value relative to the engineering effort that is required" to support Intel-based operating systems on M1 Macs, adding that VMware is "laser focused on making Arm Linux VMs on Apple silicon a delight to use."

Microsoft does not yet offer a retail version of Arm-based Windows, but a preview version is available to Windows Insider program members. Earlier this year, VMware competitor Parallels boasted about the ability to run the Arm-based Windows preview on an M1 Mac with Parallels Desktop 16.5, but fine print notes that customers are responsible for making sure they are compliant with an operating system's licensing agreement.

No timeframe has been provided for the public release of VMware Fusion for M1 Macs, and pricing and upgrade options remain to be seen.

Article Link: VMware Fusion for M1 Macs Now Available as Private Tech Preview

 

[HiVolt]

So in a nutshell, it's useless.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

I wonder how much it’s going to cost.

 

[visualseed]

The good news is you will be able to locally run near perfect copies of hosted virtual arm servers. That's actually a good thing and it means I don't need to keep using a raspberry pi as a dev box.

 

[4743913]

I would love a bulletproof VMWare for running Mac vms in Windows 10/11. I would happily pay for that.

 

[Manzanito]

The windows insider preview for arm runs perfectly on m1 macs via parallels.

 

[Danoc]

Any news about VMware Horizon for M1?

 

[NMBob]

No WinXP, no deal. OK, no Win7, no deal. I just like starting XP and Snow Leopard and reminiscing about how fast and understandable and uncluttered everything used to be. Plus I need them sometimes for old software at work.

 

[nathan_reilly]

ok, so VMware is first...but at what cost? hahaha

 

[bobcomer]

So in a nutshell, it's useless.

Yeah, unless you want to run an Arm version of Linux, but really Microsoft should really sell licenses for WoA, then I'd buy it. A full x86 emulation would be best, but it wouldn't be fast on an M1..

 

[BornAgainMac]

Last year they teased a better product than what Parallels was doing on M1. Looks like they were not able to do that.

 

[bobcomer]

No WinXP, no deal. OK, no Win7, no deal. I just like starting XP and Snow Leopard and reminiscing about how fast and understandable and uncluttered everything used to be. Plus I need them sometimes for old software at work.

No Snow Leopard either.

 

[visualseed]

Yeah, unless you want to run an Arm version of Linux, but really Microsoft should really sell licenses for WoA, then I'd buy it. A full x86 emulation would be best, but it wouldn't be fast on an M1..

I'm sure somebody will come out with a SoftWindows / SoftPC (emulated x86) type product for Mac. If there was market for it then, there is more than certainly a market for it now.

 

[StrangeNoises]

No Snow Leopard either.

i'm gonna sulk until they support RISC OS in a vm. at least that one actually did run on ARM...

 

[bobcomer]

I'm sure somebody will come out with a SoftWindows / SoftPC (emulated x86) type product for Mac. If there was market for it then, there is more than certainly a market for it now.

I hope so. I expected so back in November.

 

[ruka.snow]

So in a nutshell, it's useless.

Nope, it is very useful. Developers often need to virtualise Linux as that is where our code is going and it can be via Docker, VM's or a VM then running Docker. Windows doesn't do anything you couldn't replace by just buying a Xbox.

 

[4743913]

No WinXP, no deal. OK, no Win7, no deal. I just like starting XP and Snow Leopard and reminiscing about how fast and understandable and uncluttered everything used to be. Plus I need them sometimes for old software at work.

you must be young... a lot of us have the Commodore 64 for this.

 

[ruka.snow]

i'm gonna sulk until they support RISC OS in a vm. at least that one actually did run on ARM...

RISC OS would be fun to run on M1. Or indeed anything you would have used a Pi for.

 

[AppleTO]

So in a nutshell, it's useless.

It has value for devs and specialty markets, but for your typical consumer, pretty much.

 

[The Phazer]

I'm sure somebody will come out with a SoftWindows / SoftPC (emulated x86) type product for Mac. If there was market for it then, there is more than certainly a market for it now.

It wouldn't have run like garbage then, which it would now. That's going to rather limit it's market potential.

 

[Benjamin Nabulsi]

Yeah, I'm switching from Parallels and their 8GB memory limit..

 

[HiVolt]

Yeah, unless you want to run an Arm version of Linux, but really Microsoft should really sell licenses for WoA, then I'd buy it. A full x86 emulation would be best, but it wouldn't be fast on an M1..

How many arm versions even exist beyond the barebone versions for the SBC industry?

 

[DominikHoffmann]

I need to be able to run SolidWorks or Inventor on my Mac. I still have an Intel MacBook Pro, and SolidWorks runs on it great.

SolidWorks actually officially support running on a Windows VM in Parallels. Will they ever compile their code for ARM Windows? I have no idea.

 

[CalMin]

This will make it a real dilemma when the M2/M1X 16"MBP comes out. I use a Windows VM for a select few tasks based on some legacy software and I also MS Project a few times per year. It is nothing critical, but it beats schlepping across the house to fire up my old Windows laptop.

To my knowledge there are no viable Mac alternative to Project. Smartsheet is great - but I don't want to pay monthly for something that I use 5-6 times a year at most and, well, subscribing/canceling is a pain.

I get that my use case is pretty rare though.

 

[HiVolt]

It has value for devs and specialty markets, but for your typical consumer, pretty much.

Yeah, but for the past 15 years the Intel compatibility with either native or virtualized Windows (or other OS) was a big incentive for people that needed to run Windows (or other) software for work, and wanted the Mac experience for their day to day usage.

For many that meant having to only carry one laptop, and the extra cost of the Mac platform was justified. That is no longer the case going forward.