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VMWare Announces Version for OS X In Development

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the competing-with-parallels-and-bootcamp dept.

pdscomp writes "VMware has just announced at today's Apple WWDC 2006 Conference that they are developing a port of VMware to Mac OS X. People interested in beta testing the product later this year can visit this link to sign up for the public test. It will be interesting to see how things play out between VMware and Parallels. Will Microsoft bother porting Virtual PC now that there will be two other Intel OS X virtualization solutions available? Now all we need is to get Mac OS X running under Xen."

4 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. One Way by Nastard · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I find it interesting that nobody is making a move in the other direction. OS X virtualized in Windows, anyone?

    Then again, the market would mostly be curious PC users who end up switching, and I don't know how much money there is to be made there.

    1. Re:One Way by znu · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Third parties can't really do this, as it would require cracking OS X's copy protection and violating OS X's license agreement.

      It might be interesting if Apple licensed someone's virtualization tech and used it to create a sort of downloadable "demo" version of OS X that Windows users could play around with, though. Can virtualized operating systems take advantage of GPU acceleration? Seems like that would be necessary for such an application, as OS X is somewhat less impressive for demo purposes without its GPU-accellerated eye candy.

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    2. Re:One Way by Jahz · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Third parties can't really do this, as it would require cracking OS X's copy protection and violating OS X's license agreement.


      Unless something has changed, I don't believe there is any copy-protection for OSX. The last few times i've installed/upgraded OSX, there was never any key required, nor did the DVD ever resist duplication.


      To be honest, I would be suprised if Apple did NOT turn a blind eye to pirating of OSX. It happens to be a great way to get Windows users to *try* OSX. Assuming Windows-to-Mac converts will buy at least one Mac computer after trying OSX, the payoff would be substantial. (not to mention that it could be made into a bait-and-switch scenario, in which Apple hooks people with the OS and then forces them to get a Mac or license).

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      There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who do not.
  2. Strange new world... by jthill · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So, VMWare's gonna host on OS X, and Microsoft likes Xen? And the Xen guys are getting dinged for their proprietary attitude?

    Ok. We've arrived. All ashore that's going ashore!

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    As always, all IMO. Insert "I think" everywhere grammatically possible.