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ConnectixVPC4Ma
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

VMware Fusion 12

It is the time of year when VMware and Parallels release their next versions. Therefore with the release of Parallels 15 I am wondering when Fusion 12 will be released. Of particular interest is that Parallels 15 has DirectX 11 support which VMware Fusion users have been asking for. Here is the Parallels 15 DirectX info blurb..

"Version 15 supports DirectX 9, DirectX 10 and DirectX 11—all via Apple Metal®.* With the addition of DirectX 11, you can now run graphic-intensive applications and games, such as Autodesk 3ds Max 2020, Lumion, ArcGIS Pro, Master Series, FIFA 19, Age of Empires, Fallout 4 and more."

Since I am a Fusion user I would not like to have to move to Parallels to get comparable DirectX capability. I am thinking it is time for VMware to show up with respect to Parallels 15.

I know the "we don't share" routine, but a lot of VMware Fusion users expected VMware to get to DirectX 11 before Parallels and so I, as one of them, am a little disappointed. I am hoping Fusion 12 will be worth the additional wait. Perhaps VMware mgmt could throw us a bone or two?

25 Replies
continuum
Immortal
Immortal

Next version will be Fusion 11.5
And here is the bone you asked for :
VMworld 2019: Fusion and Workstation Announcements - VMware Fusion Blog - VMware Blogs


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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ConnectixVPC4Ma
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thank you for the bone... I am afraid VMware Fusion has been bested in a significant way but not supporting DirectX 11 before Parallels. This cannot be spun to be a good thing. Many users have been wanting this for a long time. I appreciate the 1.5 and no charge, but I would have been glad to have paid for DirectX 11... I hope you will do a comparison of 11.5 to Parallels 15 so that we do not have to rely on Parallels to do this.

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

Just for the record: I do not work for VMware.

I would suggest that you leave a comment on the referenced blog-post


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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ConnectixVPC4Ma
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Here are the comparisons I could find at this time...

VMware Fusion vs Parallels Desktop Side-By-Side Comparison

pastedImage_2.png

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SvenGus
Expert
Expert

Finally, also with Dark Mode...! :smileycool:Smiley Happy

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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

We have an equally biased comparison chart Smiley Wink

It's just marketing collateral, but we market to slightly different audiences.

As for DX11, we've been working on it for some time, but remember that we have to build for 4 products, not just 1.

So, our Guest DX implementation has to work across Fusion, Workstation for Windows (incl. Player), Workstation for Linux (incl. Player), and ESXi.

So we have to render:

- DX11 in Apple Metal

- DX11 in  OpenGL on Linux

- DX11 in DX12+ on Windows

Part of the issue as well is that Apple's Metal has to support all the things that DX11 supports, and I'm not 100% sure it does that yet.

It certainly hasn't previously, otherwise we would have skipped DX10.1 and moved right to 11.

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Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

Beat me to it, and there's one line missing - Fusion 11.5 is a free upgrade (thank you!).

To the OP, this, like most duopolies in tech, is a back and forth arms race.  One is better for a short time, the other catches up and passes, and the cycle repeats.  The best option is to pick one horse and ride it.  Most folks don't switch back and forth between iOS and android because one phone has a better camera, for example.

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rlregehr
Contributor
Contributor

While I prefer Fusion due to it's licensing over Parallels I have to say Fusion is dog slow compared to Parallels 15. 

I hope this is addressed in Fusion 11.5.  The Parallels user experience is orders of magnitude better. It literally boots windows 10 in under ten seconds.  Fusion 11 is double that and applications are SLOW and lethargic compared to Parallels.

VMware is a billion dollar company compared to tiny Parallels and they are completely cleaning your clock!

Try it out and see for yourself how much Fusion is lacking.

Please fix your product!

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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

Well, we didn't get a catalina drop today, so I'm guessing we'll have a mac event in early October and a release later in October.  More time to bake 11.5 🙂

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VirtualMac2009
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

The problem with Parallel Desktop is that it does not work to control machines via USB on Windows on Mac. It crashes while collecting data. Yet, VMware Fusion works great in such scenario.

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Gemvox
Contributor
Contributor

Part of the issue as well is that Apple's Metal has to support all the things that DX11 supports, and I'm not 100% sure it does that yet.

That seems like an odd thing to say when Parallels just released DX11 on Metal

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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

They can claim it, but that doesn't mean they're saying it's build in full compliance to the D3D v11 spec.

"DX11 support" and a "fully compliant DX11 virtual graphics stack" are two different things.

DX11 things obviously work (and do work on Fusion as well, as long as they have DX10.1 fallback), but they have a list of apps they know work and ones they know don't.

If it's a compliant implementation of the d3d apis, everything should 'just work', even if it's just slower.

I would expect that apps which they didn't explicitly claim support for would have black objects or other weird rendering issues (or crashes) if the app is trying to use a shader or function that isn't there.

We definitely know that the current shipping Metal (v2) and DX11 are not at feature parity, so there has to be corners cut somewhere.

Metal 3, coming in Catalina, is closer, but I think there's still a delta.

We've been at it for years, it's a non-trivial thing to say the least.

A look through parallels forums shows a lot of folks having issues getting games and other apps to run.

Parallels even notes that the 'optimal' experience will be with Metal 3 on 10.15 because it has more GPU functions and is closer to parity with DX11.

One of their engineers noted in their forums: "Some applications will work only on macOS Catalina where Apple implemented more functionality in Apple Metal." but they didn't list what apps those are.

So yah, I don't think it's a fully compliant DX11 implementation.

For us, the bar for claiming 'DX11 support' is much higher, there will be no corners cut, and it will be supported on Fusion as well as Workstation for Windows and Linux.

https://forum.parallels.com/threads/directx-11-compatibility.346978/

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Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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Gemvox
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you for the explanation.

That gives me more confidence in my choice of Fusion over Parallels, I would rather have no DX11 than a non-compliant implementation I guess, at least for my purposes.

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millekj
Contributor
Contributor

Version 11.5 Pro - "Free product"?  Why am I being prompted to pay $95.99 for this upgrade? 

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hkang
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

You can go to Fusion download page to download the Fusion 11.5 dmg installer to upgrade. Your Fusion 11.0 license will continue working.

millekj
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks.  Not sure why, when I am looking in with my registered Fusion 11 Pro credentials, it is prompting me to pay.

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markh73
Contributor
Contributor

Hrmmm. free upgrade? then why doesn't it do an inplace one from 11.1 instead forced to page which says we have to pay for an upgrade? piss for form

hkang
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Thanks a lot for the feedback. Some security enhancement was made to Fusion 11.5, which requires a upgrade with dmg installer. In place upgrade will work for future upgrade from Fusion 11.5 to 11.5.x. Fusion 11.5 software update information has just been updated by adding a link for Fusion 11.5 dmg installer download. You can just copy the link to a browser and download the dmg installer for a free upgrade from earlier 11.x versions to 11.5. The "Learn More..." button is left unchanged for upgrade from versions before Fusion 11.0 (no free upgrade from versions before Fusion 11.0).

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haralds
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Not mentioned: Parallels Pro is only licensed with Activation on a single instance. If you are also using a MacBook in addition to a desktop, you need to change activations or buy two licenses.

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