VMware Fusion 4 [Old Version]

Rather use Parelles which I feel works better for me.

but remember the one box does THREE macs !

Pros: 64-bit; run Windows seamlessly; great performance

I have had no problems running VMWare Fusion 4 with a Windows 98 and various Linux installations. But...Im not happy about the fact that it requires a paid upgrade only a year later in order to maintain compatibility with Mountain Lion. I was happy using VirtualBox for virtualization prior to VMWare, and will be going back to that stable, reliable and free Open Source solution (available from Oracle).

Im sure this has been reviewed this way and that so Ill focus on a couple of things that were salient for me.

Installed without a hitch. Win 7 installed just fine too.

Ive had great experience using Fusion at work, tied to Windows Server, running Windows XP Pro, for business related purposes. It has given me very little problems, and most of the problems are either windows related or a program on windows, like Quickbooks. Ive used parallels in the past, and it worked ok, but it took over my Mac system, installing different network settings that were almost impossible to change. I noticed after trying to configure either Parallels or Fusion to connect to a server as part of our network, Fusion connects easier, at least with my personal experience. I dont have any info in terms of using Fusion for games/3D performance. But if you are a business user who needs to be productive, connect your Mac to your Windows Server/Network, and have a rather easy setup, Id recommend Fusion.

I used this with a 2011 iMac for years. It is a way to access Windows from a Mac without rebooting into the Windows Bootcamp partition. It allowed Windows to run side by side with OSX, so you could have the best of both systems without a reboot. The downside was that if you updated the Mac OS, you often got hit with an upgrade charge from the software to be able to use it on the new OS. My current M1 Mac doesnt support VM Ware Fusion, which is unfortunate.

I was forced to purchase this product from APPLE in order to keep current with their technology.

Ive done the Boot Camp thing but its just too cumbersome to reboot every time I need to run a Windows program for work. Fusion lets me run Windows side by side, and I like it. My Windows-only peripherals work on it too, so its an easy way for me to access them from the Mac side of things, especially using the Unity mode which lets me keep a single Windows application open in an otherwise Mac OS. Some of the animations and graphics are a little superfluous, but overall I like it and it runs great on my 2011 i7 iMac.