Virtualization

VMWare Fusion v. Parallels

November 29, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

A little segway into the reason why I switched to Macs in the first place–virtualization software that allows us to run Windows programs on Macs. I haven’t yet settled on the program–but the choices are clear enough: Parallels Desktop 3.0 or VMware Fusion. Perhaps some of you reading this are in the same boat.

I ran across a couple of articles that weigh the strengths and weaknesses of each program. Both programs get good reviews so the bottom line is that you’ll likely be pleased with whichever product choose.

The first article was written by Walt Mossberg for the Wall Street Journal back in August, right before Fusion’s release. Lots of back and forth in the comments about the merits of each program.

The second article is a Lifehacker survey of readers about who’s using what back in late September 2007.

Each article gives you something to chew on as you consider the options. I’ll be making a decision in a week or so. But I can already say I’m leaning toward Fusion, not because it’s 64-bit and uses both processors on my MB Pro, but because the company is straightforward about the known issues with the program and the fixes they’ve made. I like that kind of transparency in a software vendor.

UPDATE: Fusion reviews and Parallels reviews on Amazon.