VMware's Switch to Fusion Contest
Published on 11 Apr 2008 · Filed in Information · 436 words (estimated 3 minutes to read)VMware recently announced their “Switch to Fusion” contest, inviting users who have switched to VMware Fusion to run other operating systems on their Macs to create a video documenting their conversion.
Unfortunately, I can’t participate; I don’t really have a “switch to Fusion” story. Why? Because I started out with VMware Fusion, back in the pre-public beta days before VMworld 2006. Well, I guess that’s not entirely accurate. I did use Microsoft Virtual PC for the Mac on my old PowerBook G4 in order to run (slowly) the occasional Windows application.
About the time that rumors were surfacing of VMware Fusion—this would have been early- to mid-October of 2006, perhaps just a bit earlier—I had hoped I would be selected to participate in the private beta program. I had signed up and requested to participate. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an Intel-based Mac yet, and I wanted to wait until Apple revised the MacBook Pro with the newer Core 2 Duo processors before buying one.
For weeks I watched the Apple rumor sites, waiting for word that the MacBook Pros were going to be revised. Then comes the e-mail from VMware, inviting me to participate in the private beta for their new Mac virtualization product, code-named “Fusion”. But I still didn’t have an Intel-based Mac! I was still waiting on the revised MacBook Pros. So, here I was, on the beta participant list and signed up to leave for VMworld 2006 in Los Angeles, and still no Intel-based Mac.
Finally, near the end of October, Apple announced the Core 2 Duo-based MacBook Pros. At last! But now I had to wait for retail availability. I called the local Apple retail store, and the manager there put my name on the waiting list for a 15" 2.33GHz matte screen model. Days passed. Still no word. Time was literally running out—I would be getting on a plane to go to LA in just a couple of days.
The phone rings at my office. “May I speak with Scott Lowe, please?” It was the manager from the Apple store! I left my office that day, went straight to Crabtree Valley Mall, and picked up my brand new MacBook Pro. That night I had the Friends and Family release of VMware Fusion running on it, and I’ve never looked back since then. Two days later, my wife and I were off to Los Angeles for VMworld 2006, my trusty new VMware Fusion-toting MacBook Pro with us.
OK, so I guess I did have a Switch to Fusion story after all! Maybe this will qualify me to compete for the iPod touch…