Comments on: Using VMWare Fusion to run Windows on a Mac

By: Martin Kelley

Martin Kelley — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:11:11 +0000

@wheat: yes, the switch has been great. And Fusion keeps getting better. I recently upped my memory to 3gb and have Windows running more-or-less full time. I watch a lot of Netflix, but also need MS Internet Explorer to test browser compatibilities and sometimes use it just when a site is acting screwy. There’s also some good freeware/cheap programs for the Windows without Mac equivalents so I pop over to Windows for those. I also like running Linux, more to know my way around it than to actually use it though.

By: wheat

wheat — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:30:14 +0000

Hope you’re enjoying your switch to OS X. I did the same thing recently and I also went with VMware Fusion + WinXP, for those times when I need it, which are increasingly rare.
I’ve been meaning to try it out with Netflix, which is why I found my way to your post. My iMac runs windows better than my old Dell laptop did.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:29:12 +0000

I would imagine there are places where one could obtain a Windows ISO file without paying... I wouldn't have paid $180 just for Netflix but for that and Rhapsody (which I use all the time) and for my past programs and for the ability to troubleshoot it's worth it. This latter part is fairly essential, as MS Internet Explorer isn't available for Mac. Since it's the most popular browser and the most prone to display improperly I really do need easy access to a Windows machine for testing. I guess it's possible that you might be able to use VMWare or Boot Camp to run Linux and then use the WineHQ open source Windows emulator to run MSIE. Whether it can be done and whether it would pass Netflix's ornery DRM protections I can't say.

By: C. Wess Daniels

C. Wess Daniels — Sat, 03 May 2008 17:57:08 +0000

I’d really like the netflix feature, but I can’t bear the thought of dropping $280 to do it.