The excitement is building...

Dec 21, 2006 at 8:54 AM
10 comments

Everyone's got a joy in life. Some folks build exquisite models of ships and shove 'em in a bottle. Others whip up imaginative, fresh cuisine and share it with the world. Me, I write code. My personal joie de vivre is forging that easy, effortless bond between people and the electronic stuff they use every day to make their lives go—computers, cars, cell phones, you name it.

Over the past year, I've been crafting VMware Fusion for Mac, a killer piece of software that lets Apple-heads do the unthinkable: run Windows, Linux, orany other operating system right alongside their Mac applications. This isn't your average Boot Camp, where youhave to restart your computer every time you need to switch between Windows and Mac OS. VMware is way cooler, and totally changes the way you use a computer.

Fusion lets you use your Mac for all the stuff it's great at (I couldn't live without my NetNewsWire, Adium, and WriteRoom), and—just when you need it—you can pop up Windows and get to that one darned app (or game) that still doesn't run on the Mac. Just like a laptop, you can put Windows to sleep when you don't want it chewing up memory, and you can instantly wake it up from inside your Mac when you just need access to a few apps.

VMware Fusion Team Celebration

2 comments

You can drag and drop files to and from your Mac and Windows to transfer stuff back and forth, and plug high-speed USB gadgets into your Mac (even ones that don't work on the Mac!) and they'll show up right in Windows: no configuration needed. All this is built on the same rock-solid code that makes VMware's other killer products work so well, and you can take your virtual machines from Fusion and use them as-is on any of our other products.

There's a ton of great stuff built into Fusion, and I'm going to be using this blog to talk about what it was like to make it, and share thoughts about developing on the Mac. Some of this will be a little techy, but I also like to write about non-technical subjects, so (knock on aluminum) this'll be pretty entertaining for everyone.

Be seeing you!

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[this is good]

Ben, thrilled to have you here -- can't wait to see what comes along for VMware as you move through the beta towards release. I've just downloaded the beta and I'm looking forward to testing the 'appliance' images... :-)

Curious: how do you feel about the tool Parallels is shipping that allows conversion of VMware images and appliances to run under Parallels Desktop?

Ben Gertzfield replied to mikerose’s comment:
Dec 22, 2006
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Hi Mike,

I'm eager to hear any comments, feedback, and especially constructive criticism. This is my pride and joy, and I'm really excited to share Fusion with the world.

I haven't personally played with Parallels Converter, but I've been told by some folks that it isn't quite as stable as one might hope for a critical data-conversion application. This is anecdotal, of course, but it is quite new software, and probably hasn't had the time to develop a mature code base yet.

VMware does have the free VMware Converter 3.0 in beta right now, so give that a try! You can actually use it to make a live (hot) VMware image of any Windows computer over the network, even a virtual machine. I believe you can even run it inside a virtual machine, and store the VMware image on your Mac!

Congratulations on the beta release. It's a huge milestone that your entire team should be proud of, and it looks like it will be an excellent desktop virtualization product.

I've already got some things to think about for VMWare at large; I know that you guys are probably focused exclusively on Fusion right now, but this seems like as good a place as any to talk about this publicly:

- Bring a free VMWare Player to Mac OS X, as you already offer for Windows and Linux. At WWDC 2006, VMWare representatives said that "customer demand will dictate the products we release." I imagine this means we'll be seeing a free VMWare Player, then, since everyone in any kind of institutional or enterprise setting, or anyone who wants to run any of the preexisting VMTN images, will absolutely want this. ;-)

- Introduce virtualization of Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server. I know, I know, a lot of you reading this will instantly say, "They can't do that!" or "Apple will never allow it!" That's not exactly correct. First, the license for Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server do not at all prohibit it; the only stipulation is that they run on Apple-branded hardware. Second, Bud Tribble (Apple's Vice President for Software Technology and a NeXT cofounder) said at WWDC 2006 that Apple is perfectly fine with such virtualization of Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server as long as it's on Apple hardware, and each OS instance is appropriately licensed. Dr. Tribble has also said that based on discussions with Diane Greene (for those who don't know, Executive Vice President of VMWare's parent, EMC, and President of VMWare), VMWare is on the same page on many of these topics. Some might still say, "Well, if VMWare did this, it would probably make it easier to run Mac OS X unmodified on non-Apple hardware." That is unlikely, since VMWare's Mac OS X products are Mac OS X-specific, and can be the sole products to include the capabilities to run Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server within a virtualized environment. Virtualization of Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server would be huge in enterprise, academic, institutional, and developer markets - areas where Apple is growing quickly. (Also, for those thinking it would be a massive undertaking to make Mac OS X run in virtualization, it very well may be in some ways (such as EFI support), but not in the other ways that people may think, such as TPM, since Mac OS X does not use TPM in any way: http://www.osxbook.com/book/bonus/chapter10/tpm/#EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY).

- Bring server virtualization products to the Apple platform! This is where VMWare really shines. Bring products like VMWare Server and/or VMWare ESX Server to the Apple platform. If necessary, only qualify and support it on the Xserve (which is one, predictable, set hardware platform). No one currently provides any way to do any kind of server virtualization on Apple hardware, nor any way to virtualize multiple instances of Mac OS X Server. Again, in the enterprise datacenter marketplaces, which EMC and VMWare know well, a VMWare server product offering on Apple hardware would require minimal additional investment for VMWare, and would only grow the marketplace. Imagine virtualizing multiple instances of Mac OS X Server *and* any other VMWare-supported x86 OS on a 4- (or 8-)core Xeon Xserve with 32GB of RAM... VMWare already knows why virtualization is great; the same reasons apply to Apple and Mac OS X/Mac OS X Server as any other platform. Again, while Apple will not allow Mac OS X Server to run in virtualization on non-Apple hardware, Apple is fine with server virtualization of Apple operating systems as long as they're on Apple hardware (and represent a good-faith attempt to keep them restricted to Apple hardware; again, the Apple-specific versions VMWare products can help ensure this). Also, make VMWare server products on the Apple platform manageable with your other tools like VMWare Infrastructure.

- Don't ignore Parallels Desktop and pretend it doesn't exist. They're doing some really innovative things, and while obviously not as established and recognized as VMWare clearly is, they have been shipping a reliable product for several months and they do know they'll have to do great things to differentiate themselves from VMWare, like working on adding 3D accelerated graphics support for Windows (for higher end graphics applications and gaming in virtualization). Hopefully, VMWare will be agile enough to add such features as well (such as features like Parallels Desktop's new Coherence feature, which allows running Windows applications side-by-side with Mac OS X applications seamlessly, with no visible Windows desktop, to name one example).

Please do not take these as criticisms. Take them as wishes from someone who hopes VMWare won't pigeonhole itself into *only* one conventional workstation virtualization product on the Apple platform. On another note, if VMWare is looking into any of these things, as large EMC storage and VMWare enterprise customer, we're more than happy to help out with any testing or feedback.

Congratulations again on the Fusion beta.

Best regards,

Dave Schroeder

University of Wisconsin - Madison

+1 608 265-4737

das@doit.wisc.edu

http://das.doit.wisc.edu/

Dave,

Your comments are absolutely enlightening, and actually sound quite a lot like some discussions I've had with the team. You can be sure I'll send your words on to the decision-makers who love hearing constructive criticism and feedback like this.

Thank you so much for taking the time to make such a detailed writeup—of course, I can't comment on future functionality in this blog, but you can be sure your voice will be heard.

Cheers!

Ben

Ben,

Thanks for the note. I know a lot of what I said doesn't directly have to do with Fusion, but I know what VMWare as a company can do, and I hope there are thoughts about the bigger picture with respect to possibilities for VMWare products on the Apple platform.

Fusion does look fantastic for a first public beta release, and I know many people will be eager to deploy a product from such a solid name in virtualization, especially sites with existing installations of VMWare products, as well as existing relationships with VMWare.

In a sense, this is almost one of those "if you build it, they will come" type of propositions. In some respects, people might say, "there's no demand for virtualizing Mac OS X Server," but that's only because no one has yet made that possible!

Good luck on Fusion and other endeavors going forward. I hope my comments serve to remind VMWare and EMC that Apple actually does have customers in datacenter and enterprise markets as well, not just pretty MacBooks on the desktop. ;-)

- Dave

Ben,

Congratulations on your beta release. I have a few thoughts to add myself...

One of my biggest concerns is that the way Fusion is presented is... impersonal. You guys seem to lack the same "human" face that Parallels has. Don't get me wrong -- this blog is already a great step in the right direction -- but I feel very strongly that considerably more needs to be done.

For starters, you need to dump your current beta download page and start anew. The registration field is filled with what is utter non-sense to a vast majority of your potential home users. What's this about "functional area" and "organizational role" and "industry sector"? I perfectly understand the rationale for collecting demographic and statistical data, in order to make important decisions about product direction, marketing, and whatnot. But the way Fusion is currently presented will, without a doubt, alienate a considerable portion of your potential customers. What do home users fill out? Students? Artists? Gamers? Your typical Mac users? Those who think different? None of those fields really apply, and the download page seems to be saying, "if you're not a business/industry person, why are you downloading this anyways?". You need to change your assumptions about how your clients may be using your product (and who your clients are), at least as it is presented right now.

Get into the mindset of the average Joe who walks into a retail Apple Store. He walks up to a staff member, and says "I just bought a new MacBook for my daughter for college, but she'd like to keep playing an old Windows game. What can I do?" Or a student walks in, and says "I want to use Visual Studio on my iMac for class, but don't want to restart into Boot Camp. What are my options?". Since your product is not yet shipping, they'll be introduced to Parallels Desktop. It sounds friendly and approachable, and they will buy it, and off they go. And note how neither of these imaginary customers would have known what to fill out on your download page.

Image is important. Parallels seems to get this -- they swiftly renamed their product's name from "Workstation" to "Desktop" to make it friendly and less threatening, as the Mac as a whole is perceived to be. I know that a lot of what I'm writing here is somewhat psychological, but I do think it's crucial. Mac users are a very loyal and selective bunch, and they gravitate to the companies and products that speak their "language". So make Fusion -- and the way it's presented on vmware.com, and everywhere else -- speak our language, too.

I don't know how much sway you have over the bigger decisions, but it would make perfect sense to me for you guys to differentiate Fusion by creating two versions: one that is focused on (and marketed to) home users who need something powerful but friendly, and one that is focused on your already established industry clients who won't be scared away by having to fill out forms about "organizational role", and who might use the product for more hardcore industry stuff.

I think it would even serve you well to have your own website, as a distinct identity, just like Microsoft's Mac Business Unit does with their Mactopia site. Move away from the cold, unfeeling, cluttered image of men in business suits that the VMWare/EMC site associations bring up. Look at the Parallels website -- bright, friendly colors, easy to navigate. Due the same -- launch vmwarefusion.com, or whatever you'd call it, and make it all warm and fuzzy and personal and approachable, a site that seems to say, "we know you are a person, not just a cubicle drone who makes purchasing decisions for the department".

Sorry if this turned out to be a bit long -- I just feel strongly about this, and given how much work you're putting into this product, I think it would be a waste if it ignored/alienated an entire market segment that Parallels has been catering to so well, and so effectively.

Best,

Adam

Adam,

I think the difference between our comments is amusing. One can only imagine the fun VMWare will have trying to position things: Is this a home product? An enterprise product? Which customers are we targeting? Who *are* our customers? Etc.

I think the reality of the situation is that EMC and VMWare are enterprise companies. While your comments are certainly valid, don't forget that individual Mac users, creative types, and those who "think different" aren't the only customers for things like Fusion. There are a lot of Mac users - more every day - who are in enterprise, government, institutional, and military settings, and we understand the language EMC and VMWare speak, and we wish they'd speak it more with their future VMWare products on the Apple platform.

That isn't to say that they shouldn't also try to reach out to the consumer marketplace that Parallels is adeptly tackling...but what Parallels is missing is any attention to or knowledge of the very things EMC and VMWare know so well, which is the enterprise marketplace. So consumer targeting for Fusion is fine (though I have doubts about how much of a "personal face" that a large vendor can put on a product, when compared against Parallels), but the last thing we want is Fusion (or indeed VMWare's entire Mac strategy) pigeonholed as a consumer-only product, with no considerations for the ongoing needs of enterprise customers.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying it needs to be one or the other - just thinking out loud...

- Dave

Storagezilla replied to moiety’s comment:
Dec 22, 2006
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Average Joe's don't run Beta software, and if they do they shouldn't.

As a Mac user myself lets also not forget that "Creative" doesn't mean "Luddite". There's time to make it all more human after we get over the period where there are countless lines of debug code executing in the background and people are submitting bugs in the vein of I created a new VM and Fusion blew up my TV...

Ben Gertzfield replied to moiety’s comment:
Dec 22, 2006
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I understand where you're coming from, moiety. Remember that this is just our first public beta, and as with any software that doesn't come from Apple, most of the polish and shine work comes towards the end of the effort. Again, this isn't promising anything in the future, but at least from the software and user experience side of things, I think there's a lot of dedication towards making an uncommonly easy to use and inherently simple product Mac users can love.

mikerose replied to Ben Gertzfield’s comment:
Dec 25, 2006
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I am going to download VM Converter right now... :-)

The excitement is building...

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