matsu

VMWare Fusion – first impressions

VMWare has opened their Mac OS X virtualization product to beta-testers. It’s named Fusion, and it allows (on Intel Macs) to run VMWare virtual machines (virtual machines, for who doesn’t know, are the images of entire computers that can be run as applications inside other operating systems). I’ve almost completely switched to Mac OS X, and one of the applications that I need (promised by the end of 2006 for Mac OS X by Garmin….) is Garmin’s Mapsource and Wep Updater, so I can mess around with my GPS receivers. I’m happy to say that it works! Although everything is not working as I wanted (bridged ethernet on the Airport connection, for instance), it’s pretty slick. After installing the VMWare tools on the virtualized OS, it works just like an application, to the point of the client desktop (in a Windows XP install) resizing seamlessly when you resize the VMWare window. Give it a try, it’s a great way to experiment with new and strange OSs without doing anything strange to your computer.