Fusion vs. Workstation

[stoerkel]

Hi there,

I just wanne ask if there are any plans  to integrate the shared vm feature in Fusion ?

Would be greate to have the option to connect to my Fusion hosted vms from Linux or Windows.

Regards

Carsten

[wila]

Hello,

Yes more features from VMware workstation like the shared virtual machines option would be very nice to have.

Unfortunately though, VMware has a policy to not comment on unreleased features or plans, so there's no knowing about if the feature will ever make it to Fusion before it actually arrived. There are some exceptions like that they have actually showcased that particular workstation feature at VMworld long before it was released on Workstation, but I doubt that will be done again for Fusion. Besides that demo was under "NDA" (The public was asked to please not tell about it)

VMware does seem to target another user group for Fusion, the "we still want to run a few Windows applications" group, not administrators or techies.

I would love to see VMware add it to the product, but I am doubtful that it will happen.

--

Wil

[jiaquan]

I would love to see VMware add it to the product, but I am doubtful that it will happen.

Another supporter here.  In addition, I would love to be able to use shared VM from VMware Workstation with VMware Fusion, so that I don't have to maintain multiple copies of the same virtual machine on different computers. 

VMware does seem to target another user group for Fusion, the "we still want to run a few Windows applications" group, not administrators or techies.

I am feeling the same way.  I have a feeling that VMware Fusion wants to be "feature parity" with Parallels Desktop for Mac, instead of trying to catch up with VMware Workstation.  There are a lot of great features in the workstation for many many years, are either hidden, or not made available to Fusion.

Thanks.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Keep in mind that Workstation doesn't cost $39 either.  They'd have to create a Pro version at the $199 price point.

I'd rather have them continue to work on things like:

1) Improved performance

2) Give OSX guests feature parity with win7 guests (3d acceleration, drag/drop, shrink, etc)

3) Improved performance

[jiaquan]

Keep in mind that Workstation doesn't cost $39 either.  They'd have to create a Pro version at the $199 price point.

Not trying to argue with you at all.  Fusion actually costs $79 [$39 is just a promotional price], same as Parallels Desktop for Mac.  Anyway, I value products by their features and useability. I am fine if VMware wants to price VMware Fusion at $199 (full) and $99 (upgrade), and then make a Mac version of VMware Player for free or at lower price point.  I can always look for alternative, or promotional deals if I can't afford the retail price point.

I'd rather have them continue to work on things like:

1) Improved performance

2) Give OSX guests feature parity with win7 guests (3d acceleration, drag/drop, shrink, etc)

3) Improved performance

I absolutely agree with you, and I have been seriously hoping VMware to improve the performance of virtual machines, based on some head-to-head comparison reports on VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop for Mac.  I have multiple virtual machines with multiple snapshots for each.  It took me over than 2 weeks to set them all up.  I am kind of stuck with VMware products until the virtual hardware version is not supported by the newer version any more.

Thanks.

[SvenGus]

VMware Workstation - i.e., "Fusion++" - also for Mac OS X would be great, indeed! :smileycool: