Bye Bye Fusion

I've been using the beta of RC1 Fusion as well as being a long term Parallels customer. I've had my problems with Parallels, all eventually fixed. I still haven't gotten a successful resolution of enlarging an existing partition that doesn't involve a 3rd party tool, but I've solved that problem by biting the bullet and creating a new VM with the correct size partition to begin with. Reinstalling software wasn't pleasant, but I've had worse experience like:

1) Trying to use CD/DVD superdrives on my Mac Pro under fusion. Not possible to control without 3rd party support. Support of the Apple eject key didn't make the cut for Fusion version 1. Non-trivial problem. Annoying but not fatal.

2) Getting ANY printer to work with Fusion. I've got two garden variety HP networked printers. Fusion doesn't work with either one, when under Bonjour or on their own. Every solution suggested fails on my MacBook Pro, my Mac Pro, and my MacBooks. This is fatal. If I can't use the printer under Fusion, it is useless.

So, while I won't diminish the problems people are having with Parallels, version 3, build 4560 has been completely stable for me on 4 different machines and through multiple upgrades. I'm not doing anything complicated; I just have some Windows-only software that I have no choice using.

Fusion is, at the moment, off my radar and off my machine, although I retain legal licenses for Version 1. I'll watch the upgrade speed, but right now, Fusion is most definitely no competition for Parallels.

 

Interesting. I have had exactly the opposite experience. I made rather large virtual disks to start with; when I did have to enlarge them yet further, I used a third party product as I normally would under XP. I have no problem with the Superdrive, because I always use 3rd party products to burn CD's and DVD's anyway, since I find MS's tools brain dead. I would never have expected the Apple Eject key to work in Fusion, so its absence for me doesn't even reach the level of trivial, remaining instead at the utterly irrelevant.

I have connected all manner of printers to Fusion, either directly or using Bonjour, without so much as a glitch. I haven't tried network printers. But if I had had a problem, I would have made allowances for the fact that it was only a release candidate, and recognized that the majority of users to whom Fusion is aimed will have their printers connected directly to the host computer anyway.

On the other hand, I have had all manner of problems with 4560, despite having used Parallels from the very first beta and having a thoroughly sorted VM. And I have read of others who have had repeated kernel panics until they uninstalled the latest release and went back to the former one. Others report corruption of their boot camp partitions. And I have observed that Parallels has had little to say about this rash of problems, apart from promising a "fix" at some indeterminate time. Whatever their virtues may be, customer support certainly isn't one of them.

Finally, I find that Fusion loads and runs faster, and consumes fewer systems resources than does Parallels. And while it lacks some of the eye candy, I don't miss it.

So my conclusion is precisely the opposite of the previous poster's: not only is Fusion a worthy competitor to Parallels even in its current beta form, but it seems destined to blow Parallels into the weeds once it is released. Indeed, a number of "senior" members on this board, one of whom had been intending to write a book about Parallels, have already jumped ship.

Hence, to quote the inimitable Rupole of the Bailey, I fear you may be engaging in premature adjudication.

 

Re: eject key. So you need 3rd party support to install software off a CD or DVD on a Mac Pro? I understand the need for 3rd party software to support CD and DVD burning; that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the simple act of installing software after the initial Windows install. For as long as I can remember, Parallels has played nicely with the Apple eject key so I had some reason to expect it to work with Fusion. Moreover, if you have to use 3rd party software to get the damn tray open and closed, it hardly seems like a useable product, at least not with the Superdrives on the Pro.

 

I have never had a problem in using the drive to install software on a MacPro without any third party programs. It works similarly to native hardware. Make sure the CD/DVD is connected to the guest; go into Windows Explorer, select the drive, right click and select "Eject." That opens the drive. Then insert the disk; it will auto mount, and you can install software to your heart's content. When you want to eject the disk, go back to Explorer and again select the drive, right click and "eject."

It's more cumbersome than in OSX, but that's Windows for you. It isn't Fusion's fault.

Perhaps the issue here is that I am quite "bi-lingual" in Windows and Mac. Most Windows operations, awkward though they may be, are second nature, so I'm not troubled that I have to do just as I would on native hardware. In fact, I find it rather reassuring.

 

None of that happens. I'm also bilingual. There is no way to connect the CD to Fusion on my system. It gets confused because I have two CD/DVD drives. I *know* how to work in Windows. I've spent more than 15 years working in that environment. When I say that nothing in my Fusion installation causes anything to issue a command that opens or closes the CD/DVD tray. Even VMWare confirms that the solution to my problem, at least for now, it to use a 3rd party freeware solution. So while your success is a cause for your celebration, I've had no luck whatsoever.

And the printer problem goes unacknowledged by VM, although others with situations similar to mine, report similar experiences.

I'm glad you're having good luck with Fusion. I have genuinely given Fusion a long careful look. Compared with my experiences with Parallels, Fusion is definitely not ready for prime time. Obviously mileage may vary, as your experiences with Parallels shows.

 

In fairness to Fusion, you have a rather unusual setup, the details of which you somehow neglected to mention in your posting. Most folks don't have dual CD/DVD's, and few have network-only printers. "Prime time" would normally refer to common configurations, not those at the extreme tails of the distribution. From that point of view, Fusion is head and shoulders beyond Parallels, even as a beta. It does not trash partitions; does not cause kernel panics; consumes fewer resources. Plus, it has honest to G_d support, with responses readily forthcoming from the development team and even the project leader, sometimes within minutes. Ths is not just my personal experience. You have but to read these forums to see that many people have had precisely this experience. Indeed, it would appear that you have had this experience yourself.

Moreover, your CD/DVD problem can apparently be solved with a piece of freeware, one suggested to you by the team. That sounds to me like a pretty good work-around. That leaves only the printing issue. I realize that it's very serious for you. So for that reason alone, I think you should stick with Parallels, as Fusion clearly won't work for you. Prime time, however, is an entirely different matter. There, stability, accountability and support count for a great deal more than working with every possible configuration.

 

I hardly think my situation is unique. True enough, I do have a serious Mac Pro system with two CD/DVD dual layer Superdrives. And networked printers are not that uncommon either, especially as most printers today are designed to plug into a USB port on a router. I have an Airport Extreme "n" router.

But I also agree with you on the support issue. Fusion has very good support right now. But to be fair, so did Parallels when it first went on the market. I posted questions that were answered within an hour or so of posting by developers and first tier tech people In time, as Parallels grew, its customer service and response to issues in their forums deteriorated and I truly believe this will cost them dearly in the long run. Of course, Fusion has the advantage of some newfound play money from Intel and Cisco, which will give it significant leverage in future development.

I can't say I have any experience with trashed partitions in Parallels. I have no need for a Bootcamp partition and so I base my experience on plain vanilla windows (xp) and linux (fedora 6 and Ubuntu 7.04) installs. Parallels has handled my needs well on my Mac Pro, my Santa Rosa MacBook Pro, and my two first generation MacBooks. I've run into problems with Fusion on all of those systems. Most are printing problems, but even at my office, where we have a campuswide WAN, I can use Parallels, laboratory printers, and everything I could possibly need without doing squat. I've yet to connect with Fusion.

I'm not trashing Fusion. I hope they clear all these problems up. I agree that it is faster to load Windows and, especially, faster to shut down. Parallels has added new features without necessarily fixing old problems - none that specifically affect me. I think Parallels has to slow down their own arms race and try to nail down the product so that fewer of the problems that you report occur. I hope Fusion addresses the printing problem first off, and while I have a workaround for the CD eject/close problem, I still think that Fusion should be able to make use of the Apple eject key whenever it has focus. If Parallels can do it, there is no reason why Fusion can't leverage all the long experience they've had and make that a priority fix. Most people who use Windows on a Mac are *not* necessarily experienced Windows users. Moreover, even those like me who are late to the Mac parade, use Windows as a stopgap. I'm not a gamer - could care less. But there are a few Windows-only software that I have to use on a daily basis, which forces me to keep a full install on my system.

 

mrfearless47, whytyger: thank you very much for the detailed issue discussion. We truly value all the feedback we get in this community. Let me stress though, that this forum is generally aimed at discussing the technical issues, the new features, the feedback on Parallels product. We do not seek an opportunity here to compare products of different vendors or even evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.
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It's not. I have an external array (2 drives and a CD/DVD burner) attached via FW800. I also have networked all in one from HP. I too cannot get the printer to be recognized and the solution I was given by vmware was to use USB.

 

Well. Your response gives me hope. As an original user of Parallels, I have been disappointed of late by the lack of participation in this forum by members of the Parallels team. If our conversation has helped emphasize the importance of Parallels support's participation, then I'm a very happy person. Right now, I'm very happy with Parallels and I will continue to use it. But if I have a technical question that isn't being answered adequately by other experienced users, I would hope that a member of the Parallels team would jump in. If others are getting something to work and I'm not having any success at doing so, it doesn't sound so much like a bug, as a configuration issue and your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your note.

 

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