In search of a better comparison.............

[ioniancat21]

For years I have been using VMware Workstation and was recently sent an e-mail from one of my friends telling me to download the free VMware Server 2 software. After investigating, I found this to be true and have downloaded the software and license key. The trick is, I did some searching and found various articles attempting to compare the two versions. Since each post I read here came to different conclusions, I have not installed VMware server yet because I'm afraid the Server version may be an inferior product since it's free as compared to Workstation, which costs several hundred dollars per license.

Vmware needs to offer a good comparison and place it in a prominent area to be easily found as there are many out there asking the same questions:

• Can anyone point me to a clear comparison chart of both of these versions?? My other thought is that maybe I'm stupidly paying money for Workstation when Server can do all those same things for free!!

• Others here in the forum have labeled the Server version as a downgrade next to Workstation, is this true???

• Is the Server version currently available still in it's "beta" phase, which is why it's being offered for free?

Answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated

CAT

[kingneutron]

--Sorry you had to wait so long for a response... I'm a longtime Workstation user (since WS 3.1 -- got tired of reinstalling Win98 every few months) using Linux for host machines almost exclusively. Workstation is superior to Server in some areas, especially if you need 3D acceleration or multiple snapshots.

--My recommendation is to download and try Server v1.x 1st, as the interface is similar to older WS 5.x -- and search the Workstation forum for " server vs workstation " posts. Server is a decent place to start since it's now Free, but Workstation is worth the money in my experience once you start running multiple VMs at once and/or doing development / software testing. Workstation has a few more features for multiple monitors, host/guest support, USB 2, full-screen display, Converter, etc.

--If the Workstation feature set sounds more interesting than Server for your needs, WS has a Free 30-day Try-before-u-buy incentive, so you can test-drive both products.

See:

http://www.vmware.com/products/ws/new.html

--You can get Server v1 from here:

http://register.vmware.com/content/eula-109.html

--Serial # registration:

http://register.vmware.com/content/registration.html

// It is my personal opinion that Vmware is not interested in throwing a lot of resources at the Server product development anymore - it is slowly being deprecated in favor of ESXI and Workstation. That's just my opinion tho. Having used WS, Server 1 and Server 2, I vastly prefer Workstation.

./. If you have appreciated my response, please remember to apply Helpful/Correct points. TIA