VMware has announced a product designed to enable Mac OS X users to run multiple PC operating systems while Microsoft is putting a halt to a version of its Virtual PC software for Intel-based Macs.
VMware has announced a product designed to enable Mac OS X users to run multiple PC operating systems while Microsoft is putting a halt to a version of its Virtual PC software for Intel-based Macs.
VMWare, being part of EMC is a major Microsoft partner. This is actually a smart move, so they can concentrate on areas which need improvement instead of trying to get into yet another market too little too late. They should have decided that long ago.
I’m glad to see this, not because I’m not a MS fan but because I’m tired of seeing Microsoft get into something after it’s been around for a while. They need to start making bold strategic moves to counter this image of theirs…it seems like most of the major announcements/changes coming from Redmond are playing catchup these days (Vista features, offering programs for free, Zune, etc etc… grapsing!)
Virtual PC was most likely bought just to become the Windows hypervisor technology.
Here’s the original VMware press release: http://www.vmware.com/news/releases/mac.html (vmware.com).
One small detail that’s not mentioned in the linked articles – the new VMware product is for Intel-based Macs only.
VMware was never an emulator from what I understand.
Not in the sense of taking the PPC language and translating it into x86, and vice versa.
It does “emulate” the existance of another computer, but I’m not sure that’s the same thing. It’s still in the same language; x86.
> VMware was never an emulator from what I understand.
>
> Not in the sense of taking the PPC language and
> translating it into x86, and vice versa.
>
> It does “emulate” the existance of another computer,
> but I’m not sure that’s the same thing. It’s still
> in the same language; x86.
Yes, but still it’s an announcement of a new unnamed product, and that left me wandering for a while. I thought others might also find it not that obvious.
Also – what’s to stop them to do virtuallization (and not emulation) of a PPC? There’s plenty of OSes that run on PPC out there.
Edited 2006-08-08 16:44
VMware is a virtualizing emulator. Hardware devices still need to be emulated.
Edited 2006-08-08 17:03