VMware has released Fusion for Mac Beta 2.
VMware Fusion for Mac is a desktop application that lets you create and run virtual machines on your Intel-based Mac. With Fusion, you can run Windows applications on your Intel-based Mac. You can also download virtual machines from the VMware Technology Network (VMTN) Website, which has a growing library of virtual appliances with a wide range of pre-installed and preconfigured applications and operating systems.
Features of VMware Fusion:
• You can use 32-bit and 64-bit guest operating systems in Fusion virtual machines. Fusion supports Windows, Linux, and Solaris operating systems in virtual machines.
• Fusion supports all Intel Mac hardware, including the new 64-bit Mac Pro and iMac.
• Your virtual machines can have multiple virtual processors, taking advantage of the Intel Core Duo chips in today’s newest Intel Macs.
• Fusion supports high-speed USB 2.0 for a huge range of devices. Even devices that do not have drivers for Mac OS X will work in a virtual machine.
• Virtual machines seamlessly integrate with your Mac: you can cut and paste text between your Mac and your virtual machines, drag and drop of files between your Mac and your • virtual machines, and create shared folders on your computer so you can easily share files and folders between your Mac and your virtual machines.
• You can burn CDs or DVDs to your Mac’s rewritable optical drive from within your virtual machine.
• You can resize your virtual machine’s display dynamically.
The Beta 2 release of VMware Fusion for Mac includes the following new features and feature improvements:
• Experimental 3-D graphics support — Play a selection of DirectX 8.1 games in Windows XP Service Pack 2 virtual machines.
• Snapshot feature — Roll back your virtual machine to a known good state when something goes wrong in your virtual machine—for example, when your virtual machine picks up a virus, or when a software upgrade causes problems.
• Improved networking — Automatically bridge to the computer’s primary network interface.
• Full support for Airport wireless networking, including virtual machines behind a NAT firewall and bridged to the local Airport network.
• Support for up to ten virtual network interfaces
• Improved Microsoft Vista support — Support for Microsoft Vista Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.
• Complete VMware Tools support for Microsoft Vista including copy/paste, dragging and dropping files, shared folders, and screen resizing.
• Improved hardware editor — Add additional virtual hard drives to a virtual machine for needed capacity.
• View the physical computer’s battery status in the virtual machine.
• Improved full screen mode — Support for plugging and unplugging displays while virtual machines are in full screen mode.
• Improved usability: an on-screen tip shows how to enter and exit full screen mode easily.
• Experimental support for Mac OS X Leopard — You can now install and run VMware Fusion on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). Support is experimental because Mac OS X 10.5 is not yet released. Fusion will support the release version of OS X 10.5 in the final VMware Fusion release.
VMware testing has determined that the following games, running in Windows XP Service Pack 2 virtual machines, are playable with Fusion experimental 3-D acceleration:
• Aliens vs. Predator Demo
• Breath of Fire IV
• Grand Theft Auto III (Tip: Set the Display Setup option Trails to OFF.)
• Hitman 2
• Lord of the Realms III
• Max Payne 1
• Max Payne 2
• Need for Speed Porsche Demo
• RalliSport Challenge
• Tony Hawk 3
• X-2 Rolling Demo
More info and download link here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Richard” for the heads up.]