Will Fusion coexist with Parallels 4?

[twynne]

I've long been a user of both Parallels and Fusion - for different purposes. I tend to run my 'office' machine in Fusion for the reliability, and have an older 'home' VM that runs in Parallels. I'd like to upgrade the Parallels VM to the latest version, but I know there used to be an issue with Parallels and Fusion coexisting and wondered if this is still a problem or has been resolved with latest version. Has anyone here tried the new Parallels version and have any results you can share?

Please don't turn this into a discussion about one vs. the other. I'm aware of the benefits and shortcomings of both.

Thanks,

Tom

[Stevamundo]

Yeah, I'm kind of curious about that too.

Although I no plans to buy their 4.0. Their 3.0 did it for me. I said to myself I'm not spending a dime on Parallels again.

[matthewls]

I did some brief testing w/Parallels 4 (while VMFusion 2 was already installed). I didn't try running both concurrently, but separately they behave well.

[twynne]

Thanks - I'll probably give it a try this afternoon... making sure I'm fully backed up first of course!

I'll post any results back to this thread.

Cheers,

Tom

[parkerpress]

I think I tried this when the first rev of Fusion came out and it got ugly fast. Which ever machine I brought up first would die a horrible BSOD when the other started (Fusion first then Parallels, Parallels then Fusion). Be sure to play with copies of machines!!!!

I can't imagine this working in any real-world situation where this might work, since each would "take over" hardware in a different way. What I've been doing is suspending Fusion when I want Parallels, and vice-versa. Be sure to let the suspend activity quit completely before starting up the other machine....

By the way, why would you want to run both at the same time. I can easily understand having some machines in Fusion and some in Parallels, but at the same time? When I bring up multiple machines (which I do almost 100% of the time when I'm using either), they are for a "similar purpose" (i.e., testing client/server apps) and both are hosted under the same emulator...

I'll be very interested in hearing your results, though... Hopefully they are better than my early attempts turned out to be.

Steve

[Stevamundo]

For me why I want both programs running simultaneously because it's great to have different VMs in different spaces in Leopard. Then you can go to different operating systems in a snap!

HOPEFULLY in Fusion 3.0 they'll come up with that technology. To have the user to pick what a particular space he/she wants their particular VM should work or boot up in.

I think that feature would be great and useful.

[twynne]

I'm not actually interested in having them both RUNNING at the same time, just both installed and being able to switch between them at will (ie. one shut down or suspended while the other is active).

I had an issue with this previously and VMWare blamed it on an issue in Parallels. It would cause OS X to become unresponsive and/or freeze completely if Parallels was started before Fusion. There's a post on here somewhere on the subject.

[admin]

I had an issue with this previously and VMWare blamed it on an issue in Parallels. It would cause OS X to become unresponsive and/or freeze completely if Parallels was started before Fusion. There's a post on here somewhere on the subject.

I believe they've fixed this in 4.0

[HobbitFootAussi]

This would require Apple providing Spaces APIs. There are no such APIs today. So there is no real supported way to do that.

[Stevamundo]

APIs???

Ah my friend, years ago people were telling me that it's impossible to basically have an unfreezable computer, than OSX came out. I don't know about you, but I don't even remember the last time when my computer froze. I use my computer all day for seven days a week.

Then people were telling me that is no way that OSX could run Windows applications. Then Parallels, Fusion and even Crossover came out.

So over the years I learned, there's really nothing that computers can't do. However we have to wait a bit for someone to invent the next new technology.

[HobbitFootAussi]

Its not about what a computer is possible. Of course its possible. There are APIs within Leopard for managing spaces of course. But they are private APIs are not to be used otherwise. Leopard has no supported way to handle saying "Window X" goes to Space 1 and "Window B" goes to Space 2. Pure and simple.

I'm sure VMWare could hack into the OS to do this, but one of the reasons I use VMWare is because its stable. Hacking into the OS for private APIs does not fit that.

[Stevamundo]

What APIs stand for?????

[HobbitFootAussi]

Application programming interface == (API) . Its what software uses to work with the OS.

[Stevamundo]

Thank you.

[WoodyZ]

APIs???

Application Programming Interface (API)

Ah my friend, years ago people were telling me that it's impossible to basically have an unfreezable computer, than OSX came out. I don't know about you, but I don't even remember the last time when my computer froze. I use my computer all day for seven days a week.

That's nice that you've not experienced your Mac freezing or locking up so tight that the plug has to be pulled to get it working again however OS X is no different then any other OS. All OSes can and does lock up tight and while some may not suffer as much as others OS X is not without it own issues and can and does lock up solid to the point of having to remove power either by holding down the power button until it powers off or just pulling the plug.

Then people were telling me that is no way that OSX could run Windows applications. Then Parallels, Fusion and even Crossover came out.

Certainly not all but some Windows application can be run on a Mac running under OS X without Fusion or Parallels and I have quite a few running on Macs that don't have Fusion or Parallels or other similar products installed although you need Darwine and X11 installed. There are of course many limitations when compared to what one can do with virtualizing an OS and installing native applications within that virtualization however it is not the only way that some Windows applications can be run.