VMware gave startup Parallels some competition Monday by releasing the first version of its software that lets Windows applications run on Apple's Macintosh computers.
VMware Fusion enables Mac users to simultaneously run a full version of Windows or any other x86 OS on x86 Mac hardware, which includes the latest Apple computers that run on Intel chips, according to the company. The software is similar to desktop virtualization software already available from Parallels, which also lets Mac users run Windows on the Mac OS.
Monday marks the first time VMware has released software based on its virtualization platform for the Mac, though the beta of the software has been available since December 2006. According to VMware, there have been 250,000 downloads of that beta.
Fusion allows Mac users to run both 32- and 64-bit OSes, and they can toggle back and forth between Windows and the Mac OS without having to reboot, according to VMware.
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