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The Best Way To Run Windows On Your Mac: VMWare vs. Parallels

Monday, June 30th, 2008 – running time 27:13
The Best Way To Run Windows On Your Mac: VMWare vs. Parallels
CNET's Tom Merritt answers the great VMWare vs. Parallels question. Which is best for running Windows applications inside of OS X? Watch the show and find out!

There's nothing wrong with running Windows on your OS X machine: all you need is Boot Camp, right?

Wrong. There's a better way: virtualization software, such as the Parallels Desktop for Mac or VMware's Fusion.

If you run virtualization software, you can run Windows operating systems like XP and Vista -inside- of OS X. Features like "Coherence" or "Unity Mode" even let you run a Windows application as if it were just another OS X app.

But which software should you choose?

Our friend Tom Merritt, the host of CNET's Buzz Out Loud has spent more time playing around with virtualization software and OS X than anybody we know... so we invited him to join us and show off his favorite tools and tricks for running Windows (and Windows applications!) on your Mac!

Now all we have to do is check out VirtualBox and see if this open source tool for running Windows in OS X works just as well!

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travislopes

Started discussion: June 30, 2008 @ 3:02pm GMT

Episode 58 - The Best Way To Run Windows On Your Mac [Discussion]

CNET's Tom Merritt answers the great VMWare vs. Parallels question. Which is best for running Windows applications inside of OS X? Watch the show and find out!

Watch and download this episode of Systm here.

travislopes
about 1 year ago
If anyone plans on getting Parallels Desktop for Mac, MacHeist is offering it for $49 ($39 if you bought one of their previous bundles) along with a copy of MacPilot. Act quick though, because they are ending this offer tonight at midnight EST.
dontbanbugmenot
about 1 year ago

Can't believe the Apple Love

I can't believe I just watched a whole episode about virtualization on a Macintosh and no mention that you can run Window, Linux, BSD or x86 operating system known to man on a Mac, but if VMWare or Parallels even tries to run OSX Apple will sue them. Both companies would love to allow OSX and have said it is not a technological barrier, it is Apple stopping them.

I will never understand all of the Revision3 Apple love. The consistently ignore how Apple does not play nice with other. Can you imagine the blowup at Rev3 if Windows put in their Eula that you cannot install Windows on Apple hardware.

Why did you spend the whole show focusing on running virtualization on OSX? You know what guys? VMWare and Parallels also runs on Windows and Linux. You can also run a host of other operating systems besides Windows.

P.S. I only used a BugMeNot account because Rev3's forum registration is down right now.
Serafina
about 1 year ago
In reply to dontbanbugmenot:
hy did you spend the whole show focusing on running virtualization on OSX? You know what guys? VMWare and Parallels also runs on Windows and Linux. You can also run a host of other operating systems besides Windows.


We had to choose one setup for the demo, and OS X --> Windows is the most common. We did mention that you could run other OS's as well.

Episodes 47, 48, 54, and 56 were purely Windows-centric. We havent featured OS X on Systm in at least 6 months (ever?)

No matter what we do, we just cant please everyone. We try to strike a balance, but someone always complains, regardless.
tehBoris
about 1 year ago
Tom talks about Windows activation as if it's a normal thing that software does, it isn't and that anoys me. Thanks for listening. :)
Guytheninja
about 1 year ago
In reply to Serafina:
We had to choose one setup for the demo, and OS X --> Windows is the most common. We did mention that you could run other OS's as well.

Episodes 47, 48, 54, and 56 were purely Windows-centric. We havent featured OS X on Systm in at least 6 months (ever?)

No matter what we do, we just cant please everyone. We try to strike a balance, but someone always complains, regardless.


Well you guys totally left us ReactOS guys out once again, shame shame shame. :D :D :D

http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html

(I'm joking, I'm just stirring the pot).
headshot1485
about 1 year ago
I wanted to do the survey noted at the end of the episode, but it appears to be down.

Good episode
Guytheninja
about 1 year ago
BTW, I did like this episode, Tom Merritt is a sharp guy.
metalpres
about 1 year ago
This guy seemed really uneducated about all things virtualization, he knew pretty much nothing about how virtualization actually works, he knew very little about how to use either of the 2 products he was pretty much claiming to be an expert with, he didnt know anything at all about VirtualBox, despite it being as good if not better than the other 2 not to mention free. I cant believe people like that can make a living doing work that poorly.
Rolcol
about 1 year ago
In reply to metalpres:
This guy seemed really uneducated about all things virtualization, he knew pretty much nothing about how virtualization actually works, he knew very little about how to use either of the 2 products he was pretty much claiming to be an expert with, he didnt know anything at all about VirtualBox, despite it being as good if not better than the other 2 not to mention free. I cant believe people like that can make a living doing work that poorly.


I love virutalbox. I use it to run different linux distros on my linux machine and my windows laptop. My mom smacked me when I told her I found a free alternative to Parallels...
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