VMware Workstation 6.0 Final

[Tantawi]

Expand the Power of Your PC with Virtualization

Discover the true power and flexibility of your desktop or laptop computer with VMware Workstation. Reduce hardware costs by 50% or more by running multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single PC. Automate and streamline tasks to save time and improve productivity. Join the millions worldwide who use Workstation to:

* Host legacy applications and overcome platform migration issues

* Configure & test new software or patches in an isolated environment

* Automate tasks for software development and testing

* Demonstrate multi-tier configurations on a single PC

Home page: http://www.vmware.com/products/ws/overview.html

Screenshots: http://www.vmware.com/products/ws/screens.html

Download trial copy: http://www.vmware.com/vmwarestore/newstore..._eval_login.jsp

[DigitalE]

Sweet.

Anyone know if beta testers get a discount or anything? :p

[MrA]

^ I doubt it, but 5.5 licensees (like me) can upgrade for $99. The USB2 support hopefully means I can finally use my iPod on a Window guest from my Linux host. But I'm a bit surprised that they haven't finished 3D support since it's partially available in 5.5. VMI and background VMs (a la VMware Server) are a definite plus for me.

[Steffan]

now I just have to wait for my supervisor to purchase the new licenses

New features:

* Support for Windows Vista (both guest and host OS)

* Multiple monitor display ? span the VM display across a second monitor

* Support for USB 2.0 devices ? including high-speed storage and iPods

* VMware Converter for effortlessly creating a new virtual machine from a physical disk

* The ability to remotely access the console of a VM from a VNC client

* The ability to run virtual machines in the background without the Workstation UI

* Integration with leading IDEs, (Visual Studio and Eclipse)

* Continuous state record/replay capabilities

* Experimental support for paravirtualized guests

[SnowRanger13]

Sweet i'll have to check if there is a trial.

[tareqsiraj]

Whats the difference between the Workstation and Server version which is free i believe?

[Sartoris]

Doesn't the server version run by itself? (ie: it doesn't run in windows)

[testman]

Server version lets you create virtual images to serve up to other computers (via a client). It requires Linux or Windows (from what I remember).

[Echilon]

Finally, I've been waiting for this for ages.

[Amano]

I was waiting for this :) thanks

[morganpugh84]

Whats the difference between the Workstation and Server version which is free i believe?

VMware Server (formally GSX Server) is very similar to Workstation however lacks a lot of the new features such as VMware Hardware version 6, multiple snapshots and Teams.

A detailed comparison between Server and Workstation is available on www.virtualization.info (direct link to the document - http://www.virtualization.info/lab/VMwareW...MwareSVR10.pdf).

Some of the new features in Workstation 6 are very nice and the integration of ACE is interesting. Vista (guest) support seems identical to Workstation 5.5 however so if that is what you are looking for then 5.5 will do you fine.

The new virtual hardware version (6) also has a lot of nice improvements such as upto 10 NICs and 8GB of guest memory.

The replay function looks good however it is labeled as experimental so I expect that it is buggy.

Being able to utilise multiple monitors is fantastic it has worked very well for me so far with an XP guest.

On a more subtle note the new enhanced keyboard driver is nice change to allow capturing ctrl+alt+del within the VM without requiring a special key combination :)

Built in VNC is a very welcome new feature as well as the appliance view which is rather puzzling at first.

USB 2 support is also very welcome and appears to work well running just a little slower than on the host (around 5-8% from initial tests with a mass storage device). I do not know if you can sync an iPod though sorry ;)

All in all it is a decent upgrade to workstation 5.5 although unless you really need some of the new features version 5.5 will do everything (including Vista) that you want.

[morganpugh84]

Ironically Windows Vista does not install 100% in Workstation 6 so I have gone back to 5.5.4 for now. I am not sure if it is a general issue or a machine specific issue that is local to my machine however part of the sound card cannot initalise correctly. While this does not effect stability of the system (guest or host) it is annoying when everything works perfectly in 5.5.4.

Thought others might be interested in knowing this before upgrading.