The Parallels vs. Fusion Debate
Allright Mac Poker on Parallels enthusiasts, serious competition is here. CNET and Lifehacker have come out with reviews/comparisons of the two virtualization options. Lifehacker (which is a great productivity blog - add it to your RSS if you aren’t reading it yet) puts the question to the lazyweb blogosphere: What are you using, Parallels or Fusion. And the answer is? 54% Parallels 46% Fusion (N=~2000). Suprising numbers, since Parallels was first to market. I haven’t made the switch to Fusion, because apparently, moving back is difficult.
Fusion is no fly-by-night app, though. The virtualization software is being put out by industry leader vmware, who appear to be catching up quickly to the Parallels swsoft team - if they haven’t passed them already.
Some of the interesting aspects of Fusion:
- Uses BOTH duocore processors rather than only one
- Disk Images available to trial other operating systems
- Unity Mode =~ Coherence mode on Parallels, but some users like Coherence better
- Fusion seems faster to some
Overall - they still seem a bit even to me. I can’t afford to make the switch and as one user put it, end up in a: Parallels -> Fusion -> Parallels situation. However, competition is good. In the end, we are years beyond VirtualPC (ugh) and the Parallels/Fusion debate will only result in better final products from both.
