VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta released

VMware has released the first beta of Fusion 2.0 for the Mac, now available as a free download.

VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 brings support for multiple displays, tools for even easier switching to VMware Fusion, experimental support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2 3D acceleration, and more!

When released, VMware Fusion 2.0 will be a free downloadable upgrade for all VMware Fusion 1.x users, as a sincere thank you to VMware Fusion early adopters.

Key Features of VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta

• Two Heads Are Better Than One—True Multiple Display Support Now you can use VMware Fusion with as many displays as your Mac can handle! VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 offers the first true multi-display support for your Mac, with additional physical displays showing up as individual displays in your virtual machine.

  Drag Windows applications from display to display. Switch your virtual machine to full screen and watch it expand across all of your displays! VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 multiple display support lets you get the most out of your screen real estate.

• Experimental DirectX 9.0 3D Acceleration VMware Fusion 1.0 pioneered 3D acceleration in a virtual machine for Mac, supporting DirectX 8.1. VMware Fusion 1.1 turned up the volume with DirectX 9.0 without pixel shaders.

  Now, VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 raises the bar for 3D acceleration yet again, offering experimental support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2.

• Flip the Switch—Import Parallels and Virtual PC for Mac Virtual Machines, or Even Your Boot Camp Partition VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 integrates importation of Parallels Desktop and Virtual PC for Mac virtual machines.

  And while VMware Fusion makes it easy to run your Boot Camp partition side by side with Mac OS X, VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 helps current Boot Camp users go “fully virtual” by converting your Boot Camp partition to a virtual machine.

• Windows Printing Even Easier on the Mac Printing in Windows virtual machines can be tricky, requiring the right drivers in the right places. VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 seamlessly lets your Windows virtual machines print to any printer attached to your Mac, without any additional setup.

• Even Easier, Mac-Native Design From the same team that brought you the first Mac-native user interface for a virtualization application…comes more of the same!

  A totally redesigned Virtual Machine Library, Settings Editor, Shared Folders setup, and Status Bar make VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 the user friendliest way to run Windows on the Mac.

Other features of VMware 2.0 include:

New Settings Editor

• Provides quick overview of all virtual machine settings
• Works just like System Preferences
• Works in Unity, Full Screen, and Single Window views
• Add existing virtual hard drives to virtual machines and even optionally copy them into the virtual machine bundle
• Simplified Shared Folders interface

Shared Folders Improvements

• Simplified Shared Folders setup in the new Settings Editor
• Shared Folders are easier to discover. New Shared Folders option in Status bar and Virtual Machine menu. Can open all Shared Folders or just a specific Shared Folder in the virtual machine
• Support for Home folder (~) shortcut for Shared Folders in VMX settings file
• Improved compatibility with Windows applications including QuickBooks and Visual Studio
• Improved compatibility running Java applications from a Shared Folder

USB Improvements

• Allow USB mice/tablets in a virtual machine without custom configuration
• Faster USB Storage performance
• USB devices are recognized by type in the Status bar
• Improved USB robustness

Networking Improvements

• Virtual machines in Bridged networking mode now know when your Mac's network connection is available or becomes unavailable, and will refresh their network address automatically
• DNS and WINS server pass-through with NAT networking
• Browse for Bonjour printers with NAT networking
• Improved performance when using NAT networking
• Manual option to override the MAC address to any MAC address in VMX settings file, previously limited to VMware-specific MAC addresses
• Automatically obtain a new DHCP lease when switching between NAT/Bridged networking
• Windows guests now able to join Active Directory domain with NAT networking if WINS is enabled on Mac OS X
• Improved compatibility with wireless bridged networking and certain DHCP/routers (also included with VMware Fusion 1.1.2)

Unity Improvements

• Virtual machines can resume and start directly in Unity view
• Unity windows can now be dragged into additional displays
• Quit Windows applications from the Dock icon
• Unity windows now respect the Dock location and won't maximize underneath the Dock
• Exposé now filters out non-application windows
• Virtual machine desktop background no longer displayed on Windows apps minimized to the Dock
• Drag and Drop to overlapped Unity windows now works
• Cursor not hidden while typing in Unity view
• Handle Unity windows without titles better
• Improved window filtering for Unity view

Full Screen Improvements

• Virtual machines can resume and start directly in Full Screen view
• Full Screen can use one or all monitors on the Mac
• Notification sheets are replaced by standalone dialogs
• Support super large displays that are over 2048 (MacBook and MacBook Air) or 4096 (iMac, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro) pixels wide

Mouse and Keyboard Improvements

• Support advanced USB input devices like graphics tablets
• Support for more than three buttons in the Windows guests…
• Gaming mouse mode: When the OS no longers draws the cursor, VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 prevents automatic mouse release along the edges of the virtual machine