OSX and Bootcamp question

[SpongebObiWan]

Originally Posted by acosmichippo

anyway, i'm surprised the migration from outlook to entourage isn't a lot easier... that's the whole point of office for mac, right?

True. You would think so, wouldn't you? But, then again, when taking into consideration who's product Office for Mac is, (covers mouth) microsoft, perhaps therein lies the problem.

[SpongebObiWan]

After running Parallels for a few weeks now, I have decided to take a look at VMWare Fusion as an alternative. I'm wondering if anybody else has used both programs also and what your conclusions might be.

On somewhat of a side note, in going through the above process, I am again reminded of just how much I am really beginning to hate Windows and Microsoft more and more with each passing day. When setting up the VMWare Fusion and installing my WindowsXP Home Edition, I got the expected "you have 30 days to activate" message. Upon going to the Microsoft site to activate I of course got the also somewhat expected "kiss of death" message "this software has already exceeded the allowable number of activations" <--translated, means ONE, as the activation done when installing my copy of WindowsXP under Parallels is the ONLY activation I made. They REALLY know how to alienate their buying public.

[up10ad]

VMWare rocks. Get the new beta. It is so much better than Parallels.

I have MS Office on my Mac and absolutely hate Entourage. It won't even do HTML in email messages! I use Mail. And I love Office on my Vista systems. Go figure. I am very disappointed in Mac Office.

[acosmichippo]

I also prefer fusion over parallels. I think the amount of features are about the same, but fusion runs 10x better.

[Kabeyun]

I've been using Parallels practically since the beginning, but I'd be interested in why y'all like Fusion better. Parallels has done a good job evolving their product (as has VMWare), but their customer service is pretty stinky. Also, the app occasionally quits, but fortunately has not affected the VM at all. If the arguments are strong, I may switch over when I get my new laptop (whenever that is).

-K

[acosmichippo]

the best way to describe it is it just runs smoother... and i have never had it quit, freeze, or crash on me... and i've been using it for about 2-3 months now.

you can probably try out the new Beta for free, if you're interested..

[SpongebObiWan]

Originally Posted by acosmichippo

you can probably try out the new Beta for free, if you're interested..

You CAN, and I AM. 30 day trial. The first difference I noticed is that the initial install and setup of the VM (WindowsXP Home Edition, in my case) seemed quite a bit less confusing and less user input required. Other then that, I've only noticed small differences so far, mainly in the features offered and layout, etc. For example, you can set VMWare Fusion to run both processors, where as you cannot do so with Parallels. I haven't noticed any significant speed difference as of yet, even with the two processors, but I admit to not yet running anything processor or memory intensive. I set the memory to 1536MB on both Parallels and VMWare Fusion (I have 4GB on my iMac so I have no shortage of memory).
On a side note, I recall somebody here informing me that I could make the hard disk size "adjustable" enabling it to grow with my needs. Perhaps I am missing something here and if so, please enlighten me. But on Parallels, I only found where the maximum HD space allowed was 32GB, and yes, the HD space DOES grow with your needs, but only up to that maximum. VMWare Fusion has a setting adjustment allowing greater then 32GB maximum and I set it at 100GB. If I am mistaken about this, I'd be happy to be made aware of it.