Which Version of Fusion to use?

[TomJnr]

We’re a small language software company www.200words-a-day.com and our software is PC based, published using Authorware as the engine. Macromedia produced Authorware but were taken over by Adobe and product development stopped. It was possible, only just, to publish PC compiled Authorware to run on a Mac but only with very old operating systems (I suspect Cheetah & Puma).

We’ve a fair number of Mac users, one contacted us a few years ago to give us good feedback on our product and on how well it ran in Fusion. Since then we’ve always recommended Fusion but are blissfully unaware of any technical details so would appreciate clarification so we can answer customer queries.

1)      The Apple website indicates that with Lion, Windows 7 is needed for Apple Bootcamp.  http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/search.php? lists 53 Microsoft systems for Fusion 4 ranging from  DOS 3-1 to Windows 7 (64 bit). I presume the limitation indicated by Apple applies to Bootcamp and not to Virtual Machines.

2)      Any recommendation on the PC Operating System?  With our PC feedback, I’d guess avoid Vista like the plague and don’t use Windows 7 (64 bit), still driver problems. I see Version 4 mentions  the restricted number of Virtual Machines supported by XP no longer applies.

3)      Is there a Mac operating system list similar to the PC hyperlink above, e.g.

Mac OS	Fusion 4	Fusion 3	Fusion 2
Tiger	-	?	?
Leopard	-	?	?
Snow Leopard	OS X 10.6.7 =>	?	?
Lion	All  OS X 10.7	With restrictions	-

4) Are there instructions for dummies on installing PC applications. We’ve notes (passed onto us by our Mac enthuiast) for installing CD’s  but understand installation of downloads is trickier.

[koi]

1)      The Apple website indicates that with Lion, Windows 7 is needed for Apple Bootcamp.  http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/search.php? lists 53 Microsoft systems for Fusion 4 ranging from  DOS 3-1 to Windows 7 (64 bit). I presume the limitation indicated by Apple applies to Bootcamp and not to Virtual Machines.

Correct. If your users are using a pure virtual machine (as opposed to one which makes use of a Boot Camp partition), there is no such limitation.

2)      Any recommendation on the PC Operating System?  With our PC feedback, I’d guess avoid Vista like the plague and don’t use Windows 7 (64 bit), still driver problems. I see Version 4 mentions  the restricted number of Virtual Machines supported by XP no longer applies.

Driver problems with a stock install aren't really a problem for virtual machines, since the virtual hardware is relatively constant. I personally think Win7 (either 32 or 64 bit) is the way to go due to being the most current (so probably best supported) Microsoft OS.

3)      Is there a Mac operating system list

Not that I know of, you have to dig through the release notes for each version of Fusion. I think the minimum host OS goes something like this:

Host OS	Fusion 4	Fusion 3	Fusion 2
10.4 (Tiger)	Does not run	Does not run	10.4.11
10.5 (Leopard)	Does not run	10.5.8	10.5.2
10.6 (Snow Leopard)	10.6.7	All	Does not support 64-bit kernel, unsure if other limitations
10.7 (Lion)	All	With minor caveats	Incompatible

4) Are there instructions for dummies on installing PC applications. We’ve notes (passed onto us by our Mac enthuiast) for installing CD’s  but understand installation of downloads is trickier.

You install them the same way you would on a physical PC. The only trick is if you download something to the Mac side and want to run it in a virtual machine, which is like downloading something to computer A and wanting to run it on computer B - you have to get it to the target before you can run it. There are a variety of ways to do this, including but not limited to Fusion's drag-and-drop, Fusion's HGFS file sharing, and Windows or Mac file sharing.

[TomJnr]

Most helpful

Thanks for the info