Looks like VMWare is jumping into the game, but no time frame yet: http://blogs.usatoday.com/maney/2006/04/mac_and_xp_a_vi.html
Odd the columnist dd not mention Parallels in this article though he wrote an earlier more obscure one about Parallels being "lucky" ......
Look - I am a huge vmware fan. They make an excellent product that serves the needs of many. If they make a Mac product at some point, then so be it. Competition is good. However, I see how good of a job parallels has done in such a short time. I'm betting my money on parellels for this one (reflected by my pre-order.)
I also pre-ordered parallels because it's here now and it mostly works. Who knows when VMWare will be out and how well it will work. I love parallels - this is exactly how we should be able to run windows on the mac.
Given VMWare's history, I'm sure their product will work very well. However, it's clear that Parallels has a winner on their hands and I can't wait to start using the release version.
I agree that it's likely that VMware will release a quality product -- eventually. VMware's development cycles seem much less aggressive than Parallels. While the Parallels beta may have some warts and missing features, the fact that they're communicating so frequently and releasing updates so quickly makes this the product that I'm interested in at this point. Competition in this space can be nothing but positive, it means that we'll end up with a better product as a result. It's an exciting time.
I agree completely. While Parallels Worksstation isn't an open source product, they've learned one lesson from the open source world: release early and often. This gives the rest of us a way to get our hands on the product and learn about it in the only way that truly matters. I, too, have sent in my pre-order. At this point, I intend to use it unless and until something dramatically better comes along - and I don't see that happening.
One thing that no has mentioned is that even if VMWare jumps in, there's the price to consider. VMWare workstation costs $199, compared to $49 for Parallels. Parallels is a much smaller company than VMWare (which is owned by EMC) which is a definite advantage. So far Parallels has been responsive to the users as well as providing good support on these forums. Keep up the good work Paralles. scott.
To me, that's the real web 2.0. Software companies know they can't ignore people and produce products in a vacuum. Even Microsoft has figured this out with the asp.net, vs.net, and atlas teams (not really the vista guys though, afaik). The companies like Parallels that respond and interact with their customers and potential customers and let feedback improve and shape the product are the ones that have a great chance to succeed in the long term, IMHO. I'd certainly like to think so, anyway.
VMWare has one thing going for them: the interchangeability of Virtual Machines. Take the image and run it somwhere else, share your special Ubuntu config, whatever. You may be able to do that with Parallels as well, but VMWare has the bigger market share, so more people may have it. But if you don't need that... BTW: I love the 5 second boot time of XP2 SP2 in Parallels!
Mine takes longer... it gets to the login screen fairly quickly, but loading my settings and logging in takes a long time.
