2. Virtualization Pros and Cons
Pros Cons
Run multiple operating Performance
systems simultaneously
Performance
Can ease the transition for
switchers Performance
More convenient than
rebooting
Less disk space dedicated
to the guest OS
3. Virtualization Products
VMWare Fusion 3
www.vmware.com/products/fusion
Parallels Desktop 5
www.parallels.com
CodeWeavers Crossover Mac
www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac
Sun xVM VirtualBox
www.virtualbox.org
4. VMWare Fusion 3
VMWare is a virtualization pioneer
Extensive guest OS support
Apple OS X Server
Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS
Linux
Google Chrome OS
FreeBSD/OpenBSD
Sun Solaris
Novell Netware and Open Enterprise Server
5. VMWare Fusion 3 Features
Run Boot Camp partition as a virtual machine (VM)
Migrate existing PC to a VM
Import Parallels or Microsoft Virtual PC VM
Unity View
Shared folders
Mirrored folders
Virtual Appliance Marketplace
6. Parallels Desktop 5
First virtualization product for Macintosh computers
Extensive guest OS support
Apple OS X Server
Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS
Linux
Google Chrome OS
FreeBSD/OpenBSD
Sun Solaris
OS/2 Warp
7. Parallels Desktop 5 Features
Run Boot Camp partition Modality View
as a VM
MacLook
Migrate existing PC to a
Shared folders
VM
Mirrored folders
Import VMWare VM
iPhone App
Coherence View
Parallels Virtual
Crystal View
Appliances Directory
8. VMWare vs. Parallels
VMWare Fusion 3 Parallels Desktop 5
More stable Better Windows
performance and
Better Linux support
integration
Unity support for
Better interface and
Ubuntu
aesthetics
Virtual Appliance
More configuration
Marketplace
options
Having multiples operating systems on one PC is a time and cost saver for software development and quality assurance.
It can ease the transition for switchers in two ways:
1) Provides easy access to familiar programs.
2) Saves money on software licensing by continuing to use Windows versions of expensive software.
Boot Camp requires a dedicated partition, while virtualization software allows the use of a “virtual” partition.
VMWare and Parallels both retail for $79.99.
Crossover Mac is $39.95 for the standard version and $69.95 for the pro version.
VirtualBox is free.
VMWare was founded in 1998 and delivered its first product - VMWare Workstation - in 1999. VMWare Fusion was released in 2007.
Supports more than 140 operating systems (many of these are Linux variants though).
Supports every version of Windows from Windows 3.1 through Windows 7.
Supports every major Linux distribution - Red Hat, Ubuntu, SuSE, etc.
Booting into Windows from Boot Camp offers the best performance but being able to run it as a VM gives you the flexibility to starts Windows without rebooting the Mac when you don’t need the extra performance.
Migrating an existing PC is a great feature for switchers.
Unity offers a “seamless” Windows experience by hiding the Windows desktop and putting the applications in the OS X desktop - however, the Unity view does not hide the Windows task bar.
Unity is supposed to work with Ubuntu 9.10 but I have not tested it.
Shared folders allow you to share files between the host and guest OS.
Mirrored folders allow you to map folders like My Documents to the host OS.
The Virtual Appliance Marketplace offers pre-built virtual appliances - both free and commercial - that are ready to download and run.
First version of Parallels shipped in 2006.
Also supports every version of Windows from Windows 3.1 through Windows 7 and every major Linux distribution.
Coherence offers a “seamless” Windows experience by hiding the Windows desktop, including the taskbar, and putting the applications in the OS X desktop - Parallels was the first product to offer such a feature.
Crystal offers even more “seamless” operation by hiding more components - in reality there is little difference between Coherence and Crystal
Modality is a window view that floats on top of the other windows and is transparent when inactive
MacLook makes your Windows applications look like OS X applications
The free iPhone app allows you to start, stop or view virtual machines
The Virtual Appliance Directory also offers pre-built appliances, ready to download and run
VMWare’s Virtual Applience Marketplace has 1,346 appliances, of which 564 are operating systems. Parallels Virtual Appliances Directory has 87 appliances, of which 17 are operating systems.
Both Parallels and VMWare are excellent products. The competition between the two products has been good for Mac users. Either product would work well for most users, the only exception being gamers. Games with moderate hardware/performance requirements run acceptably under Parallels, but not VMWare. Games with extreme hardware/performance requirements do not run well in a virtualized environment.