Late Tuesday, virtualization softare maker VMWare released version 2.0.5 of its Fusion software for the Mac.
Similar to other virtualization software packages, VMWare allows users to run alternate operating systems such as Windows and Linux distributions on Intel-based Macs at native speeds. Other features, such as Unity, allow users to run and minimize Windows applications from the Mac OS X Dock.
The new version, a 289 megabyte download, offers the following new features and fixes:
- Supports Mac OS X Server guest operating systems on Macs with Intel Xeon 5500 and 3500 Series processors (based on Nehalem micro-architecture).
- Provides experimental support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server as a guest operating system (32-bit only).
- Provides experimental support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard as a host operating system (32-bit only).
- Supports Ubuntu 9.04 as a guest operating system, including features such as VMware Tools pre-built modules and Easy Install.
- Reduces CPU usage when a virtual machine is idle under VMware Fusion.
- Contains fixes for more than 80 bugs.
The software requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run and retails for US$79.99.