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Virtualization software allows you
to run multiple operating systems
at the same
time.
Parallels Desktop - Parallels is up to version 3.0 currently. It offers full XP and Vista support, the ability to boot off of Vista or XP Boot Camp Partitions and early Direct X support for games.
VM Fusion - Fusion is currently at Version 2 Beta 2. VM Fusion has the ability to run 64bit Images as well as 64bit Bootcamp partitions as well as allocate 1-4 processors per image. It offers limited Direct X support as well. A new feature called Unity is very similar to Coherence mode in Parallels. This is the ability to run Windows apps in OS X without the Windows desktop.
Both offer the ability to run other OSs if you like such as Linux and Solaris. Both are offering Unix support tools for more seamless operation as well. This functionality will vary depending on Distro.
Right now, VM Fusion seems to be the clear leader in stability and 64-bit performance.
Latest updates
1/24/09 - Windows 7 - Parallels vs Fusion vs Virtual box Showdown. Parallels finally added 64bit guest support in Parallels Desktop 4, however I wanted to see how it compared to VMWare Fusion 2 regarding speed. Just a few days ago, Sun released a new version of their open source virtualization software Virtual Box, so I decided to test this as well.
Parallels Desktop - Parallels is up to version 3.0 currently. It offers full XP and Vista support, the ability to boot off of Vista or XP Boot Camp Partitions and early Direct X support for games.
VM Fusion - Fusion is currently at Version 2 Beta 2. VM Fusion has the ability to run 64bit Images as well as 64bit Bootcamp partitions as well as allocate 1-4 processors per image. It offers limited Direct X support as well. A new feature called Unity is very similar to Coherence mode in Parallels. This is the ability to run Windows apps in OS X without the Windows desktop.
Both offer the ability to run other OSs if you like such as Linux and Solaris. Both are offering Unix support tools for more seamless operation as well. This functionality will vary depending on Distro.
Right now, VM Fusion seems to be the clear leader in stability and 64-bit performance.
Latest updates
1/24/09 - Windows 7 - Parallels vs Fusion vs Virtual box Showdown. Parallels finally added 64bit guest support in Parallels Desktop 4, however I wanted to see how it compared to VMWare Fusion 2 regarding speed. Just a few days ago, Sun released a new version of their open source virtualization software Virtual Box, so I decided to test this as well.
