Parallels vs VMware?

Hi Bruce,

Was interested to know if you'll be doing an article comparing Parallels to VMware.  I recentley purchased an iMac and was looking for a solution to run windows xp on my mac without having to reboot my machine.  I was originally planning to go with Parallels but after doing a little research I discovered that VMware is a very impressive solution with much of the same functionality and faster speeds then Parallels.  I ended up buying VMware yesterday and am very happy with my purchase.

Thanks,

~Nick

Thanks Nick, that's a great suggestion and information. I've heard positive things about both programs, though I only have personal experience with Parallels (and Boot Camp, of course). I'll plan on doing an article looking at and comparing the two virtualization programs.

Let me know if you have other experiences with VMWare, though I suspect you'll continue to be happy with it.

thanks for writing!

Bruce

It's maybe also worth mentioning that Fusion and Desktop are not the only options:-

VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). See "About VirtualBox" for an introduction.

Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and OpenSolaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), and OpenBSD.

VirtualBox is an impressive freeware option for those that don't already have a solution in place for virtualization.  One strength that the other two big league players, Fusion and Parallels, have at this point in time is the ability to switch your existing virtual hard drive image from one product to the other.

Another huge strength is the ability to access your Boot Camp volume from the either VMWare or Parallels (VirtualBox doesn't appear able to do so).  I have both VMWare and Parallels on my system and both have their strengths and weaknesses.  Once SUN's project is fully mature it may very well give them both a run for their money.  I'm keeping my eye on SUN.