My new MacBook Pro arrived today after much delay; Apple discontinued the model I had ordered and replaced it with another with a faster CPU and twice the RAM at the same price point. Now go ‘way I’m playing, er, “busy” right now.
I’ve been using VMWare Workstation for a few years, since version 4.5, and I’ve used Virtual PC both before and after Microsoft bought the product. I use VMWare Workstation 5 on my Linux machine to run the occasional Windows app or to do some Java development in a Solaris environment. But until recently I hadn’t really given much thought to the free VMWare Player; I knew it was there, but it remained on the periphery of my awareness. A couple of things have changed that recently.
First, a coworker of mine decided to ditch Windows on his office computer. Oh, he still needs to do a couple of things in it, but by and large he uses Ubuntu Linux at home, and with the release of version 6.10 (Edgy Eft) he has decided to go all the way and run a Linux-only machine at work. The folks at Ubuntu have made it very easy to set up VMWare Player and my test installation worked like a charm, so I made him a Windows Virtual Machine to run occasionally on his Linux box.
Second, VMWare has announced the release of the software for Intel-based Macs, which means my new MacBook will be able to run Linux, Solaris, and (sometimes) Windows. All my OS needs under one roof, so to speak. This is so cool.
Stay tuned for a follow-up How-To on installing the VMWare Player on Ubuntu, as well as information on VMWare for Mac as that product becomes available.
Checking out what this thing will do. Look for me to be more lucid in the coming weeks.
