Watch out Parallels! Here comes VMware Fusion RC1

Parallels had better watch out. Months ago, when they had a monopoly on the mac virtualization market, they were the only choice for running Windows and Mac OS X side by side. But now there is a new competitor in town–VMware. Known as the industry standard for Windows virtualization, they are trying to take a piece out of Parallels pie. Their product, Fusion, has just gotten out of beta and is now in Release Candidate 1.

VMware continues to enhance their product by improving their “Unity” feature, as well as adding 3D support for the integrated graphics cards. Fusion is now ready to work in Leopard, and also includes a new “Applications” menu so that Windows apps can be launched from the dock. Fusion is expected to ship in late August for $79.99 matching the price of Parallels.

All of this competition in the virtualization market is really healthy, and beneficial for the consumer. Both Parallels and VMware crank out new features every month and continue to enhance the users experience. It should be fun to see them go head-on when they both have shipping products this fall.

Read [Ars Technica]