[TriLUG] VMware clarifications

[Rev. Christian J Hedemark]

I was pretty excited after last night's demo to get my hands on VMware.
There were some disappointing clarifications to last night's talk, from the
horses mouth (http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop/exp_faqs.html)

How Does VMware Express Differ from VMware Workstation?
With VMware Express, Linux users can access applications that run on Windows
95 or 98. And do it without rebooting.

With VMware Workstation, users who run Windows 2000, Windows NT or Linux can
access a whole set of operating systems at the same time. It's the product
of choice for a variety of technical users -- including developers, quality
assurance engineers, system administrators, technical support analysts,
product demonstrators and trainers.


In other words, the express version can only do Win95/98.  To run NT you
need the much more expensive "Workstation" version (about $250).

Also, with regards to my question last night on running multiple sessions
concurrently, you can only do that with the more expensive workstation
version.  If you want to run Linux or a BSD under a virtual machine, that
also requires the more expensive Workstation version.  The "Suspend" feature
that Kevin demoed for us is, you guessed it, only available in the
Workstation version.

The express version is advertised at ~$50 and for the full featureset we saw
last night I'd be willing to buy it at that price.  Maybe even $100 or $150.
For ~$250 it's a little much.  For another $50 I could buy another *real*
machine to run another OS on.

Reverend Christian J Hedemark II
Hillsborough, NC
http://yonderway.com
"Those who are willing to sacrifice essential liberties for a little order,
will lose both and deserve neither." - Benjamin Franklin