Parallels vs VMWare Fusion

[Jeff Mottle]

Does anyone know the advantages/disadvantages of using one over the other? I have Fusion installed, but am wondering if there is anything different in Parallels worth trying out.

[AJLynn]

I saw a Macworld article about this a while back but I can't remember where, and anyway these things are being developed so fast the article is probably obsolete by now. The two products are converging quickly, for example both are now claiming DirectX 8 in software through the video driver and hardware 3D under development, VMWare has something almost exactly like Parallels' Coherence feature (Windows windows in the Mac dock instead of running Windows in a MacOS window) and Parallels has made some valiant attempts at the Bootcamp install compatibility. Parallels might get a useful hardware 3D implementation before VMWare, and it's been around for Mac longer.

 

I'm liking VMWare right now because of the superior Bootcamp compatibility, USB device support (you can even use software license dongles with it), dual core support and I've used their products for Windows a lot. Also if you have any other VMWare products you can transfer VMWare VM's between computers, and you can use the VM "appliances" which include some useful security software etc.