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| Microsoft VirtualPC 2004 * | VMware Server 1.0.1 | VMware Player 1.0.3 ** | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Impact on system resources: |
Moderate 20MB download, 38MB installed. |
Heavy 153MB download, 105 installed. Adds extra "network adapters" to host. Adds several system services to host, some of which may or may not start properly. |
Moderate 30MB download, 30MB installed. Adds extra "network adapters" to host. |
| Coexistence: Can application coexist with competitors? |
Coexists with VMware Player |
Does not coexist with VMware Player or VirtualPC |
Coexists with VirtualPC |
| Creating a VM: How easily can a VM be created and OS installed? |
Excellent Use host-shared files, virtual CD, and/or real CD/DVD. |
Good Use virtual and/or real CD/DVDs. |
Not supported Uses pre-existing VMs only. |
| Guest OS support: What OS's can be used in a VM? |
Fair Non-Microsoft OS's not supported, though sometimes work. |
Good Supports a wide range of operating systems. |
Good Cannot create a VM, but can use whatever VMware Server creates. |
| Launching a VM: How quickly can an existing VM be started? |
Good Must start VM via console. Console and each VM are in separate windows. |
Fair Must start VM via cumbersome console. Each VM launches in a separate tab within the console. |
Excellent VM can be specified in command line or desktop shortcut, making console optional. |
| Keyboard/mouse: |
Fair Some occasional jerkiness in response. * |
Good |
Good |
| USB support: |
Not supported Reminder: USB drives on the host can be mapped to folders via VMA. Other USB devices (scanners, cell phones, etc) are not supported. |
USB1 |
USB1 |
| Network connection: |
Good NIC traffic bypasses host's firewall. |
Good Broad network configuration possibilities, but requires skill to setup. Unfortunately, NIC traffic goes through host's firewall. |
Fair NIC traffic goes through host's firewall. |
| Virtual CD/DVD support: |
CD images only Does not support DVD iso images. (Note: does support real DVD disks in host's DVD drive.) |
CD or DVD images |
CD or DVD images Iso cannot be swapped. Only supports iso image specified when VM was created. |
| CD/DVD ease-of-use: How easy is it to swap virtual CDs? |
Excellent Simple drag-and-drop onto status bar icon. |
Fair Swapping CD images is buried in menus. |
Not supported Iso cannot be swapped. Only supports iso image specified when VM was created. |
| Floppy drive ease-of-use: How easy is it to swap virtual floppies? |
Excellent Simple drag-and-drop onto status bar icon. |
Fair Swapping floppy images is buried in menus. |
Not supported Iso cannot be swapped. Only supports iso image specified when VM was created. |
| Drag-and-drop files between host and VM: |
Supported VMA must be installed. |
Supported VMware Tools must be installed. |
Supported VMware Tools must be installed. |
| Access to host folders: Are files and folders on the host accessible from within the VM? |
Excellent VMA must be installed. |
Fair Must be done by networking to a network-shared folder on host. |
Poor Only if configured by VMware Server. |
| Virtual hard disk: |
Fair User cannot choose to split vhd file into segments. |
Good Vmdk file can be split into multiple files and spread across multiple host drives. |
Not supported Cannot create vmdk. Vmdk must be created by VMware Server. |
| Undoing disk changes: How easy is it to revert the hard disk to a state saved earlier? |
"Undo disk" option With "undo disks" option enabled, session changes can optionally be discarded at the end of a session. |
"Snapshot" option Revert to a disk state saved earlier -- if you had the foresight to save the particular state you want. |
(Not supported??) |
