VMware Fusion

Is anyone using VMware Fusion? How is it stacking up against Parallels?

 

I"ve been playing with Fusion (beta 1). The one big problem with it so far (it's a known bug) is that using bridged networking the host cannot talk with the guest operating system (and vice versa). Plus, so far you cannot choose which network adapter to use when using bridged networking.

I haven't tested NAT since it's not what I want.

These are going to be fixed obviously, but it stops me from testing it more (I run VMs for servers).

 

I've been playing with it some. The user experience is very, very similar to Parallels. However, it's support for USB devices (or at least the PicoTech PicoScope 2202 I am trying to use) is quite a bit flakier.

Fusion hangs my entire Mac when the Windows New Hardware Wizard tries to install the PicoScope USB 2.0 (High Speed) driver.

Granted, Parallels doesn't work correctly either once the driver is installed; however, at least it doesn't crash Windows or the Mac itself.

 

I'm a special case. I have severe cerebral palsy thus I have to have a MAC Morse code adapter to access my iMac.

Once and only time I tried fusion, I could type in their VM but for some reason I couldn't move the mouse. I wrote to them and explained to them about my situation. However they never wrote back. SO SCREW THEM!

Parallels on the other hand, I think they wrote their application and with their tools just to be like another Mac application, only that application is for running other operating systems. That's the only way that it can be explained. Because my Morse code system is ONLY for Mac, it's incompatible with native windows.

So Parallels has this customer for life! Because my Mac's Morse code system works PERFECTLY in Parallels' VM. THANK GOD!

 

I had the same response on networking as Caleb. Inability to communicate between the host and guest without port mapping through the NAT is not acceptable as far as I'm concerned. I haven't even been back to their forum since that little show stopper, so I don't know if they've fixed it. So Parallels currently has my undivided attention for virtualisation.

 

VMWare is quite clear that networking between host and guest isn't enabled in this beta, so it should come as no great surprise that it doesn't work. However, there are a variety of work-arounds posted in the forums, which are well worth reading. For example, the mouse connection problem is thoroughly discussed, and a simple fix offered.

Since I have no need of this feature, nor for exotic USB drivers, I have found that Fusion works extremely well. It is substantially more stable than Parallels, supports multiple processors, has better memory and CPU management, has a simpler and more intuitive interface, and with few exceptions such as those sited above, has full USB2 support, including iSight. It also supports "global drag and drop" without exposing the entire Mac file system to Windows--hence significantly enhanced security.

It does not, however, support BootCamp partitions nor does it have Coherence; but again, neither of these are of particular interest to me. Moreover, because it has debugging code embedded in the program which cannot be turned off in this release, it is somewhat slower than Parallels. However, they do have a formal bug tracking and reporting mechanism.

Since Fusion is in its first public beta release, VMWare does not offer any individual email support; however, I have found that any question that I have encountered, when posted on the forum, is answered, generally within minutes, either by extremely experienced users or directly by the development team, who seem to monitor--and respond to--post almost constantly. Parallels, by contrast, promises support for its shipping products, like build 1970, and even offers paid telephone support--but the follow through is less than astounding.

In my opinion, it is well worth downloading the beta and playing with the program before making up one's mind. I still use Parallels for my day-to-day work, but am looking forward to subsequent releases of Fusion.

 

I have a number of modified Freebsd images that Parallels wont run, but will run in VMWare Fusion. I have tried 3 different ways of installing the images, from CD, from a nfs share with a live cd boot, and from a transporter conversion of a working VmWare image, all hang in the same place. Immeadialtly after the login prompt appears.

 

i've been a parallels user since the very first beta release. i've seen it improve steadily over the last 9 months or so, to the point where working on my macbook pro in the office (windows 2003 server) has been an extremely painless experience.
sure i've had bsod, usb 2.0 frustrations etc but i've also seen a genuine improvement to parallels and what has become a very impressive piece of software.
when VM ware introduced fusion i created a new virtual machine on my mac and set it up to work over our network. partly because it's still a beta release in debug mode i found it slow and clunky compared to parallels BUT usb 2.0 support was excellent from day 1.
the crunch for me came when we introduced a new voip phone system - this was a windows only system utilising usb 2.0 handsets and soft phones. after loading the software in parallels i connected a usb phone and got a bsod! tried it with a different headset and still a complete freeze of the system. the latest release of parallels (3150) does actually run the software and phone but it sounds like darth vader on voices! not really usable. tried it with vm fusion and it worked perfectly - first time, out of the box (so to speak).
So now i have a dilemma - use parallels and exclude myself from our phone network or use vm ware and endure the slow, clunky user experience until they go to RC1 or use both (which does actually work!).
my heart is still with parallels but vm fusion leads the way with usb 2.0.

 

Would please give me the link to this. I wonder if their simple fix to their mouse connection problem would work with my Morse code system too? Because let me tell you that good guy that built the Morse code system for me was absolutely shocked that I got it working with Parallels. However also he admits that he doesn't know much about virtualazion technology.

I'm willing to experiment if I find answers to my questions.

 

I like Parallels for Windows, since VMWare doesn't have anything like coherence mode. However I prefer VMWare Fusion to run Linux since Parallels has lots of problems with Linux. It seems that they're using all of their resources to make it better for Windows users but ignoring those of us who want to run other operating systems.

 

Have you tried Parallels RC3?

 

i'm going to try it over the weekend

 

Good -- let us know what happens.

 

still the same problem - tottaly distorted voice from the headset speaker - no problem with vm ware

 

When you say better CPU and Memory managment could you elaborate as to how those differ from Parallels? Is it that Fusion uses a smaller memory/cpu footprint, or does it dynamically manage the allocated memory?

-J

 

Dynamic memory management

 

Yeah, I'd like to know that one too, I just can't find anything regarding that matter on VMware's forums and I'm experiencing the same problem (mouse and keyboard can't be "grabbed" by Fusion) on each and every one of my newly created virtual machines, so Fusion is basically useless to me.

 

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=72580&tstart=0

That's where I started a thread in VMware's forums. I also explained about my situation more there as well.

 

There are extensive discussions on this in the Fusion forum:

http://www.vmware.com/community/forum.jspa?forumID=371&start=0

Just search on "keyboard."

It's probably more appropriate to motor on over there. However, one obvious thing is USB Overdrive, which many people (including me) use. You need to unstall it. The other is that before you install VMWare Tools, you must click the mouse inside the VM to get focus on the virtual machine. Finally, it does appear that most problems center around the MacBook, and also with certain 3rd party devices like the Wacom tablet. But enough for here and enough for now.