Thank you team, Beta 3 Build 43733 is out

[rcardona2k]

From the Release Notes:


What's New in Beta 3[/b]

New and Improved Features in Beta 3
This Beta 3 release of VMware Fusion for Mac includes the following new features and feature improvements:

• Greatly improved performance — By popular demand, you can now disable debugging code to experience the full power and performance that VMware Fusion offers for running your favorite PC applications.
  
• Support for Boot Camp — VMware Fusion automatically detects your Boot Camp partition, so you can now run a Windows XP virtual machine from your existing Boot Camp partition. You no longer have to choose Windows or Mac: you can now run Windows side-by-side with your favorite Mac applications. Note: For this Beta 3 release, Windows Vista is not supported; only Windows XP is supported.
  
• Windows Easy Install — You want to run Windows applications, but you don't want to become a guru just to install Windows. VMware Fusion has you covered; just answer a few simple questions, insert your Windows CD and let VMware Fusion take care of the rest and automatically create the optimal Windows virtual machine for your Mac, including the installation of VMware Tools.
  
• Virtual machine packages — Virtual machines are now encapsulated in a single, easy-to-manage package. Move your virtual machines to another hard drive or Mac simply by copying a file.
  
• Enhanced virtual machine creation — The entire virtual machine creation process has been streamlined, and the new Windows Easy Install feature makes creating a virtual machine even easier than before. The New Virtual Machine Assistant remembers the location you choose for future virtual machine creation.
  
• Enhanced virtual machine library — Managing multiple virtual machines is even easier with the Virtual Machine Library. Add new virtual machines by just dragging them into the Library, reorder virtual machines with drag and drop, and use the delete key on the Keyboard to remove virtual machines from the library. Open a Virtual Machine without powering it on, using the new Settings button, which opens a virtual machine directly to the Hardware Editor.
  
• Host-Only Networking — Host-Only networking creates a network that is completely contained within your Mac, with a network connection between the virtual machine and your Mac. Use host-only networking to set up an isolated virtual network.
  
• Improved suspend/shutdown state — When a virtual machine is suspended, VMware Fusion shows a screenshot of the last known state of the virtual machine and a friendly play button so you can get up and running again quickly.
  
• Improved hardware editor — Settings for virtual hardware are now complete: you can remove virtual hardware from the hardware editor when virtual machines are powered off.
  
• Improved international support — European and Japanese Apple keyboards now work properly in virtual machines.
  

Wow, downloading now...

[bgertzfield]

You're a fast one!



Please let us know what you think. You'll be one of the first to try it!

[Pat_Lee]

Richard, you are making me look bad. I was just finishing the announcement.

Seriously, let us know what you think!

Pat

[Andreas_Masur]

You guys just rock...the list of new features is more than impressive...some the things I was hoping for such as possibility to disable the debugging code for faster performance if needed, bootcamp support, host-only networking just to name the most important ones. Are you guys are actually reading my mind?

I was going to set up my MacBook Pro again...and of course you made more than my day with announcing BootCamp support. This way I can just use BootCamp when I need the raw performance and use Fusion for my regular work (e.g. compiling in the background) without the need for two separate installations.

Given the past experience with your betas I even expect this working right out of the box...again, you have managed to impress me one more time. Thank you very much.

[rcardona2k]

Sorry Pat. I promise to hold my horses and not steal any further thunder later. You and your team deserve the credit on this very generous update. I can tell some hard work was put into this one!



Already, I'm enjoying the speed of beta 3, the window re-sizing is cool. The Power status when the VM is off rocks. Host-networking is awesome. The Special Characters palette is also pretty cool:



!http://farm1.static.flickr.com/232/447871685_db112b7ed0.jpg!

Now what I'm trying to arrange for is to make a Boot Camp 1.2 partition for Windows Vista®...

[bgertzfield]

Bah! You don't need the Special Characters palette for that -- just hit Option-R for ®.

(And Option-2 is ™, for the VMware Fusion™.

[Pat_Lee]

Vista Boot Camp is not supported in Beta 3 Richard, please wait for a future release to give that a shot.

Thanks,

Pat

[rcardona2k]

Thanks for the heads-up Pat. Any way I figure it, I don't have enough room on my MacBook Pro for Redmond's "finest" anyway. I may start small with XP and I'll let you know how that goes.

[aliasme]

Disable inline debugging?

Bootcamp?

HOLY COW!

So long Parallels.

Hellooooooooooooo VMWare.

Nice work guys and congrats. Thank you!!!

[blind_user]

hi. question from the blind user again, smile. do i have to reactive, re install windows etc. before installing this beta? how does all this work. and as a speech user under fusion i'd be interested to see the performance increase when i turn off debugging. dont worry aobut the keyboard not beeing grabbed by either host or guest yet as i have managed to work out how to swtich between the two though this may e possible in this beta 3, not sure. so what i am asking is, can my vm stay where it is, or what. regards, will

[Pat_Lee]

Hello Will. You don't need to change or reactivate your VM. However, you need to go to the VMware menu, select Preferences and uncheck the Enable debugging checks. You will need to restart the virtual machine for the change to take effect.

Let us know how it goes. It should also help your phone issue from what I have heard from the USB lead engineer.

Best,

Pat

[dp_fusion]

I've installed it and verified both Solaris and XP work great - all functionality is preserved and performance is up noticably with debug disabled. I hope that's not an illusion like the new fade

Excellent job. Looking forward to the RC cycle.

[pauldf78]

no coherse yet.. bummer.. I guess i will still use both for now...

[alexish]

Hello,

Maybe I'm just being silly, but I can't seem to download the new beta. When I click download, it asks me to fill out a marketing form (why?) even though I am logged into my vmware account. When I submit the form, I get a thank-you with a download button. When clicked, it brings me back to the form.

How do I download the new beta?

Thanks in advance,

--Alexis

p.s. and just a suggestion - can you just provide a link to the DMG instead of \*requiring* people to fill out forms?

[Pat_Lee]

Alexis,

Thanks for your feedback. We are required to have a download form for VMware downloads. I have done my best to create a minimum download form to be as painless as possible compared to other VMware products.

Once you fill out the form and accept the EULA, you can download the latest DMG.

Best,

Pat Lee

Senior Product Manager - Mac Products

VMware

[alexish]

Pat,

Thanks for your reply, and sorry to be so daft, but I'm still having trouble. I filled out the form multiple times, and receive the following page:

---

Download Fusion Beta - Your Registration Has Been Received!

Thank you for your interest in the Fusion Beta from VMware. We are pleased to help you begin enjoying the benefits of virtualization.

Sincerely,

The VMware Team

\[Download]

---

I click \[Download] and it brings me back to the (registration) form I just filled out! I don't see anything about a EULA, and I tried this with both FF & Safari on my MPB...:(

Thanks again,

--Alexis

[pauldf78]

How do i disable this debug mode? Its not clear to me for some reason.

[bgertzfield]

Select the VMware Fusion > Preferences menu, and uncheck "Enable debugging checks".

[alexish]

Pat-

Just to follow-up:

Somewhat ironically, I tried downloading using IE in a VM session & I was able to download the new beta. So there (appears?) to be something funny going on maybe with Mac browsers?

--Alexis

[pauldf78]

aah thank you does this require a reboot?