When will Fusion for M1/M2 (?) be released?

[Kyuzo]

The fusion 22H2 Public Preview has just been released, but is there a roadmap for general availability?
After Broadcom's acquisition of VMware, are we still confident that Broadcom, which has always been cloud-oriented, is still betting on Desktop Virtualizers?

[Technogeezer]

VMware does not comment on the content and release dates for future products -at least to the general public.

Personal opinion, for what it’s worth.

That being said:

• they have invested in the creation of 3 releases of the Tech Preview for Fusion on Apple Silicon over the last year
• they have invested in Windows 11 support for both Fusion and Workstation as evidenced in the latest Tech Preview versions for both products
• they have hinted at a release “later this year”.

Typically we see new releases of Fusion around the time Apple releases a new macOS version. My personal guess is we’ll see it not long after Ventura is released so that VMware has a chance to check for last-minute changes snuck into Ventura that might break anything.  

Unlike some competitors whose business literally depends on them betting on desktop hypervisors, VMware (/Broadcom) does not seem to have that attitude.  However from statements I’ve seen them make in other media, VMware seems to view desktop virtualization as complementary to their existing on-prem and cloud offerings, especially in software development. 

[ColoradoMarmot]

I'll chime in with a bit more speculation.

I suspect that some of the reason we've seen slower releases is because they're moving towards much more common code across the portfolio.  The only reason they didn't have win11 support sooner was legal/license - they were absolutely interested in providing it, and fully understand the market.

I do suspect that we'll see Fusion move to a subscription model as Broadcom has already telegraphed that they want to do that for all the VMWare assets.  In some ways that'd be a good thing...we almost have it today anyway if you want to keep current on MacOS, so we might as well just accept that - there will be some griping, but it makes a lot more business sense. 

And agree, now that we have a TP that works on a Ventura host, we'll probably see some form of release in October - certainly by the end of the year.

I'm really encouraged by the performance on the M1's - it's handled everything I've thrown at it VM wise, and never skipped a beat.  That's not the result of a product that's at risk...they've done serious engineering on it.

[sjordi]

And worse than subscription (rip off) model, moving to the Cloud...

[Technogeezer]

It's been hinted that the Fusion personal use license will be continued to be offered. And the hints also say we're within a month away from the official next version of Fusion release.  (sometime in November is the most common hint).

Subscriptions are not necessarily a rip off. But it depends on your usage. 

[ColoradoMarmot]

We effectively have a subscription model already, because new versions are required when Apple makes substantial changes to the underlying OS (developers aren't free).  I wish they'd just bite the bullet and actually do that, because it'd stop all the complaining.  Developers aren't cheap, and people expecting a $99 product to work forever have unrealistic expectations. 

[Technogeezer]

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@ColoradoMarmot wrote:

 people expecting a $99 product to work forever have unrealistic expectations. 

---

Technically speaking, a perpetually licensed Fusion version will work "forever" - if you use the macOS versions that are listed as being supported by that version. All bets are off (and therein lies the need for a paid version upgrade) if you try to use a version of Fusion on a version of macOS that VMware doesn't qualify.

[sjordi]

I'm a developer myself. VMware's model for now is not subscription based. All minor updates are free and Fusion never stops working after a determined time (as long as the OS is compatible of course).
100% of my customers told me they hate subscriptions. It's a matter of trust and subscriptions are seen as back stabbing.

Developers are not cheap and need to be paid, of course. Major upgrades should be paid but not imposed. 
I don't rent my software, I buy it. Like my coffee.
That's why the current model for VMWare Fusion is good (in my opinion).  I loyally bought all versions from 5 to 12Pro and am ready to pay for 13 that works on Ventura. I'm not ready to start paying a monthly fee that hides behind the biased idea that "it guaranties a stream of revenues to insure development otherwise the product would die".

Adobe (who started what I think is the big scam), Microsoft, etc.. made billions per year without subscriptions for decades. How come?

[ColoradoMarmot]

We'll agree to disagree on this one :-).

Now back to our regularly scheduled topic....apologies for hijacking the thread.

[Technogeezer]

Discussion retracted as it was off the original topic... Sorry.

[cabinum]

I'm not a regular user, but my Intel Mac Mini bricked Fusion when I updated to Monterey.  Now have a Studio with Monterey and it looks like a new download is in order for the M1 chip.  Wish I could use it on the Mini as well.  I haven't found any update to fix it though . . . Any suggestions are welcome, though I'm hesitant to try to downgrade.

[ColoradoMarmot]

you can't downgrade the studio from Monterey.  For the M1 you need to use the Tech Preview release (or wait a couple of weeks until the rumored release).

Note that you'll have to build all new VM's for the M1.  There's no way to run intel guests.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Argh, the forum won't let me edit the reply....

You can use the tech preview on both intel and M1 hosts on Monterey.  The guests of course, won't move between them.

[cabinum]

Thanks for the reply.  Sorry I wasn't clear.  The Mini is the unit that bricked when I upgraded to Monterey.  The Studio I'm going to wait for the official release.  Perhaps it's just time to get another PC as I only use Fusion for my CAD, BMW diagnostics and URC remote programming.

[Technogeezer]

@cabinum  - I'm curious about the bricking of your Mini. What generation of Mac mini and what versions of macOS and Fusion were running on that Mac mini before you upgraded it and the upgrade "bricked" it? Is it still bricked, or were you able to resuscitate it?

Migrating from an Intel Mac to an Apple Silicon (M1/M2) Mac has some things you have to beware of if you have been using Fusion on your Intel Mac. As @ColoradoMarmot notes, no virtualization solution will run Intel virtual machines on M1/M2 Macs. There are open-source Intel chip emulators out there that run on M1/M2 Macs. but you will not be impressed with their performance.

For most people that run Windows as a virtual machine on their Intel Mac, you're going to have to install a new virtual machine with Windows 11 for ARM on your M1/M2 Mac. That also means you'll have to determine if your software either has an ARM version available (probably unlikely) or can run under Microsoft's Windows 11 x86_64 translator (their Rosetta-like software).

Perhaps a cheap Intel PC would be best for those needs. It certainly would be the least risky avenue.

[cabinum]

Hello Technogeezer.  My mini is a late 2014 running Fusion 11.5.3 on Big Sur prior to Monterey.  I haven't been able to make it work, and even if I could, it was running Win10.  Gonna give the downgrade a try and hope for the best on the mini.  All this drama for VCarve Pro and some minor random apps has pretty much made up my mind.  If the downgrade doesn't work, then I'll just move everything to a PC and move on.  Hate that, but ya can't have it all.  For the 3d rendering, I'll likely be happier anyway as it never was a speed demon.  Thanks!

[Technogeezer]

@cabinum If you had Fusion 11.5.3 running on Big Sur, you were lucky that it worked at all.  Fusion 12 was needed for Big Sur because of the changes Apple made (in particular Apple's recommendation to stop using kernel extensions). VMware never qualified Fusion 11 for use on Big Sur and later for that reason. 

I have a 2014 mini as well and it does run Fusion 12 under Monterey.  Fusion 11. is an absolute no-go. If Fusion 11 was installed on that Mac and you've upgraded macOS, I'd perform a manual full uninstall of Fusion 11 per instructions in https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1017838 before trying to install Fusion 12.

I also have a Windows 10 VM successfully running on this Mac mini. It won't upgrade to Windows 11 because PC Health Check complains about the CPU not being supported by Windows 11. I haven't tried to override this with the Microsoft documented registry key that allows an upgrade on an unsupported configuration to see if that would work.

Fusion 12 does have some networking quirks that I'm hoping get fixed in the Fusion 13 release. I don't do much 3D work so I can't vouch for the speed on this hardware.

[Kyuzo]

November has arrived but still no light. 😒

[Technogeezer]

To be fair, VMware didn't say exactly when the new version would be released. They've only provided hints which point to this month. The product manager demonstrated a "release candidate" of the next version of Fusion a couple of weeks ago in an industry conference, so my take is it's pretty close.

We're all still waiting, and November isn't over yet.

In the mean time if you need something today, try the 22H2 Tech Preview on either Intel or Apple Silicon Macs. 

[Technogeezer]

Hot off the presses: VMware has hinted at a release next week.  :fingers crossed:🤞