VMware has announced the latest version of its popular virtualization tool, VMware Fusion. Version 5 is optimized for the latest technologies found in OS X Mountain Lion, Windows 8 and the latest Macs — including the Retina MacBook Pro — and includes more than 70 new features “for a Windows on Mac experience never seen before.”
After the insanely fast sellout of tickets for Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off in a couple of weeks, we profiled a range of other events for Mac and iOS developers and for IT professionals who support and/or manage Apple’s desktop and mobile platforms.
While these events are great for developers and IT pros, they focus on the underlying technologies of OS X and iOS more than on how companies and other organizations can implement and leverage Macs, iPhones, and iPads in various businesses and industries. For that, there’s the i.Business Expo, a series of events focused on using Apple technologies to both improve business workflows and for customer/client engagement.
Most companies grappling with the BYOD trend think in terms of allowing personal iPhones, iPad, and Android devices. Virtualization heavyweight VMWare looked at the situation quite a bit differently. Instead of allowing personal devices, VMWare’s CIO Mark Egan decided to require employees to use their personal smartphones in the office.
The move, unorthodox to say the least, seemed to Egan the best option when he found himself sandwiched between the rock of corporate-owned smartphone expenses and the hard place of users clamoring for the choices of BYOD.
Comparing uprisings in the Middle East to what happens when a manager brings his or her own iPhone to work seems like a bit of a stretch, but IT executives say the effect has provoked a similar shake-up.
The people (read: employees) have brought about a groundswell of change in the corporate world by opting to bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and choosing their own apps. This has upended the “regime” of IT departments, who used to be able to control what devices employees used and what ran on them.
There’s so much buzz around Apple and education in the U.S. these days, you’d be forgiven if you assumed there was a “One iPad Per Child” program officially in effect.
Case in point, a school said to have “shunned” Macs in favor of PCs makes news.
Then you read the story, and it turns out that Adam Gerson, tech director for Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York City, is a lifelong Apple fan who opted for Microsoft servers after slogging through a decade of trying times while trying to keep a network of Apple servers running smoothly.
Over the weekend, we reported that the 4.1 update to VMWare Fusion allowed users to virtualize Leopard and Snow Leopard; a strict violation of OS X’s licensing terms.
At the time, we supposed this was a conscious decision on VMWare’s part to leave Leopard and Snow Leopard virtualization up to the user. But no, nothing of the sort: it’s just a bug VMWare’s going to patch.
Last last week, VMware released Fusion 4.1, an update to its popular virtualization software that adds many improvements and bug fixes. The biggest improvement is the applications ability to run older versions of Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard.
VMware has launched a brand new version of its popular virtualization software for the Mac. VMware Fusion 4 boasts more than 100 new features — such as 2.5 times faster graphics — and is now fully compatible with OS X Lion.
I recently reviewed the 13-inch MacBook Air and I noted that many of you were curious to know how well the new MacBook Air would work emulating other operating systems running Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac or VMWare Fusion.
I’m happy to report to you that I spent some time with both of these applications and I have some good news — they not only work, but in my opinion they work pretty damn good if you ask me.
VMWare, the virtualization powerhouse that brought its Fusion software to Mac in late 2006, is now just about ready to roll its second major version of the program for OS X. Late this afternoon, VMWare sent over info and download links for a public beta of Fusion 2.0, and, I have to say, it’s looking hawt. More comprehensive DirectX 9 support for seamless PC gaming, insane levels of multimonitor support (ten screens!) and easy importing of Parallels, Virtual PC and even Boot Camp partitions.
Better yet, VMWare has announced that Fusion 2.0 will be free to all existing Mac customers once the final version ships. Of the three big updates, the monitor support is the big one. Parallels doesn’t support multiple displays for Windows, and the Fusion implementation looks nicer than multiple displays for most native PCs. Parallels can do Mac in one screen, Windows in another, but not Windows on two displays for the same virtual machine. Granted, this is a fairly niche feature, but its really well put together, as you can see in the video I’ve thrown up at the top.
The beta is wide open, so if you want in on the action and can live with a few beta quirks, hit the link.
