Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Snow Leopard
VMware Fusion 3.0: Take 2
Update 5:30p: VMware's Pat Lee has acknowledged the problems on the serial-number system and has posted a universal 30-day trial license code and download link to allow users to install the new version.---
I never was able to upgrade to a paid version of Fusion 3.0, so I downloaded a demo version and 2.5 hours later received a 30-day serial number.
Installation was trivial, but now I can't find my old version 2.06. That would be bad for people who are trying 3.0 and decide to go back to an older version. I tried a Spotlight search, and my older version is nowhere to be found. That's not good. Has anyone else making the upgrade experienced this? Update: Commenters make it clear that 2.0 will automatically be removed when you move to 3.
I'd already upgraded to Windows 7 on version 2.06, so the same OS came up fine under version 3.0. One of the advantages of 3.0 is that you can assign multiple cores to the app, and since I'm running on a 2 x 2.66 Dual Core Xeon I assigned 2 cores.
Start-up was faster than the old version. About 45 seconds to the Windows 7 desktop, and a few more seconds to bring up a couple of gadgets and settle down. Launch times of apps seem pretty fast, but I don't find the difference dramatic.
My graphics card is a Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT. I won't get all the Aero effects, but I do get transparency and some other visual eye candy. VMware is now the first of the virtualization packages to support Aero and Flip3D, and it also includes OpenGL 2.1 and DirectX 9.0c.
A new menu bar appears in Fusion hovering at the top of the screen. It is helpful when in full screen mode, and gives you quick access to the virtual screen controls without having to see the Mac menu bar.
This new version of Fusion has a PC Migration Wizard, making it quite easy to migrate a physical Windows PC into the VMware virtual machine.
You now get an app menu as part of Unity instead of seeing the start menu when you are in that mode.
Overall I find the new features helpful but not outstanding. The performance of version 3.0 seems faster, and I hoped to do some benchmarks -- but as I said, my old version of Fusion is missing in action.
Fusion for first-time users is US $80. An upgrade from version 1.x or 2.x is $40. There is a half-price education discount of 50% available here.
I'll caution our readers again that VMware seems to be having problems taking orders and finding serial numbers of some registered users. It may take a while to settle down, but you can do what I did, which is download the demo and let VMware mail you a 30 day serial number.
I think Fusion 3.0 is a worthwhile upgrade. Combined with some of the speed improvements in Windows 7, there is no doubt that everything runs a bit faster, and the Snow Leopard compatibility and the always-on application menu let you run Windows apps in a very unobtrusive and integrated way.
A new menu bar appears in Fusion hovering at the top of the screen. It is helpful when in full screen mode, and gives you quick access to the virtual screen controls without having to see the Mac menu bar.
This new version of Fusion has a PC Migration Wizard, making it quite easy to migrate a physical Windows PC into the VMware virtual machine.
You now get an app menu as part of Unity instead of seeing the start menu when you are in that mode.
Overall I find the new features helpful but not outstanding. The performance of version 3.0 seems faster, and I hoped to do some benchmarks -- but as I said, my old version of Fusion is missing in action.
Fusion for first-time users is US $80. An upgrade from version 1.x or 2.x is $40. There is a half-price education discount of 50% available here.
I'll caution our readers again that VMware seems to be having problems taking orders and finding serial numbers of some registered users. It may take a while to settle down, but you can do what I did, which is download the demo and let VMware mail you a 30 day serial number.
I think Fusion 3.0 is a worthwhile upgrade. Combined with some of the speed improvements in Windows 7, there is no doubt that everything runs a bit faster, and the Snow Leopard compatibility and the always-on application menu let you run Windows apps in a very unobtrusive and integrated way.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Joey said 5:10PM on 10-27-2009
You're lucky, I didn't even get the demo serial number. Tried it on my main account and another I set up. So now I've got no Fusion at all...
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iGO said 8:49PM on 10-27-2009
Silly,
Just check your time machine backup.
Fusion v2.x is right there, you big kidder, you!
StanleyCup99 said 5:11PM on 10-27-2009
AFAIK, there has never been the possibility of having multiple versions of VMware installed.
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Max Howell said 12:52PM on 10-28-2009
And the reason this makes sense is because of the Kernel driver. Having multiple kernel drivers installed is undesirable and making them backwards compatible is tricky.
Will said 5:16PM on 10-27-2009
I am a student and have been using VMware Fusion since 1.0. I've tryied to upgrade 3 time now and in multiple browsers and my cart keeps getting messed up. Hope they fix this soon.
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Jason said 5:23PM on 10-27-2009
There needs to be a gallery on this post with close up screenshots of some of the features Mel is mentioning.
A new menu? Looks the same to me.
A new app bar? Would love to see it.
At least leave the original/full size screenshot linked to the thumb in the post :/.
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adam gordon said 5:25PM on 10-27-2009
I had similar problems with the website and upgrading/requesting a key. They lengthened the key from 4 blocks to 5 so 2.x keys definitely won't work.
Ordering a new/upgrade worked fine though and I got my serial number immediately on screen and within a few minutes via email - I suspect paying customers have priority. ;-)
--adam
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dagamer43 said 5:27PM on 10-27-2009
Runs pretty choppily on my Late-2006 MacBook Pro. Maybe it's just my video card can't handle Aero.
Oh well, I bought a Windows laptop anyway.
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netkas said 5:43PM on 10-27-2009
3d part of vmware is still very bad
opengl in winxp_guest done via gallium/mesa
opengl in vista/w7 done via msofts opengl over dx emulation
so, no stable opengl, unlike in virtualbox/parallels
directx is a bit better, but i was unable to launch unigine tropic benchmark in dx9 mode. its says some gpu capabilities is missing, wtf, where is promised full dx9c support ?
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Tony said 6:01PM on 10-27-2009
3dmark06 benchmarks about 40% slower on fusion 3 vs fusion 2. Possibly that's because it supports more features so more to render.
One thing I did find is OS makes a *huge* difference. Under Snow Leopard Win7 is reasonably zippy (not certain it's any faster than fusion 2). Under Leopard it drags the whole OS down and runs like a dog. Probably a bug to be fixed in 3.0.1 I guess.
Guillermo said 5:46PM on 10-27-2009
I downloaded the 30-days demo and I'm been having a good experience. I installed Windows 7 without any problem and very quickly. Also I was able to run Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 smoothy on the VM. That's all I need! :)
I have a Macbook unibody early 2009 (2Ghz, 4GB RAM).
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Josef Gru said 11:17AM on 10-28-2009
That is all the information I need to give this a try, have you tried pes 2010?
jmy4 said 5:48PM on 10-27-2009
My upgrade went very easy. I upgreaded a 2.0.x key to 3.0 woithout any problems. When I signed on to my account, it found my old key and I entered a 1 to upgrade that key and I was off. The download was slow but that was it.
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BoxOfSnoo said 5:51PM on 10-27-2009
Here's a link for the old 2.0.6 version:
http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/desktop_downloads/vmware_fusion_for_the_mac/2_0
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Mike said 10:39AM on 10-28-2009
Who knew that VMWare needed to list as a caveat that upgrading to 3.0 would REPLACE 2.x. Seems kinda obvious to me...
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Greg Perkins said 6:15PM on 10-27-2009
I'm running Paragon's NTFS for Mac in order to read my boot camp winXP partition from Snow Leopard. I've been fine with this so far, but VMware looks like it's come a long way from its early days, and I'm tempted to try it. Will VMware read my NTFS partition with NTFS for Mac installed, or am I just asking for punishment?
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Brian said 6:11PM on 10-27-2009
Fired up the demo with a Vista bootcamp and wow it was ssssssssssllllllllooooooooowwwwwww
Didn't get time to test anything else but looking forward to trying it side by side with Parallels and Windows 7.
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Ian said 6:14PM on 10-27-2009
There is NO possibility to have two versions of Fusion installed on the same machine. There NEVER was - that would be a complete mess, as it integrates deeply into the system and new version changes virtual machines (sometimes machine version, sometimes only VMware Tools). VMware is very clear about that (from the release notes: "Installing VMware Fusion 3 will overwrite earlier versions of the application", in bold). Surprised that you don't check the basics before posting a review.
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digitalsedition said 7:01PM on 10-27-2009
That's not a review, its some random ranting about the inability to upgrade and some vague comments about features and performance.
Alex Sukhodolsky said 6:23PM on 10-27-2009
Still haven't gotten the email with the serial number...wow did VMWare's web dev ppl blow it
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