I had the pleasure to meet Gail while fulfilling on the Fusion team’s commitment to award a shiny new iPod touch to one of our user survey takers. Gail was the respondent who was selected by the random number generator I used to help with the tough task of choosing one winner out of the tens of thousands of great reponses we got.
Gail and I got to talking, and pretty soon, we were all set on featuring her story on Fusion Faces!
Gail is the Managing Director at Business Strategies Etc., a consulting firm that specializes in applying technology to design, produce, and deliver marketing communications, both online and off.
Gail’s Challenge: Wants a Mac, Needs Key Business Apps
Gail is a fan of Mac hardware and had her sights set on a shiny new 17" MacBook Pro with all the trimmings. The challenge was, one of her key clients has a long-term relationship with Blue Hornet, an email marketing application. And as many email marketing experts know, Blue Hornet doesn’t work on the Mac.
Besides Blue Hornet, Gail has some other key business apps that she uses day in and out that wouldn’t work on the Mac. She’s a big fan of Microsoft Visio for visually explaining concepts, and likes to use Corel Paint Shop Pro, and Stamps.com. Of course, those apps don’t work on the Mac, either.
The Business Strategic Solution? VMware Fusion and Windows XP
One of Gail’s clients, a systems integrator, recommended that she use VMware Fusion to help her sort this out. She’s been exceedingly pleased with the results. As Gail put it, "My favorite thing about VMware Fusion is that it works! It was easy to install and configure and for someone who is not an IT professional, just a small business owner that has to do her own tech work, it is easy to manage and update."
It’s the perfect compliment to her Mac, letting her achieve the vision of "Just Works" SMB IT, but without foregoing her key applications, "Windows on my Mac with VMware Fusion is better behaved than Windows on my old PC! It just works, quietly, unobtrusively, dependably. I love it!"
And she loves the power of having two machines in one. "I essentially have two computers in one box. I have an external monitor hooked to my 17" laptop, and I use one for Windows XP and the other for Mac OS X. It really feels and acts like two machines. But if I want, I can flip into Unity view, and those two machines blend into one. Too cool!"
What would Gail tell someone in her shoes?
"I recommend VMware Fusion all the time. I have a friend who is a Flash designer. She had just bought a new MacBook Pro, and couldn’t find Mac versions of some of the apps she was running. I told her, ‘You gotta get Fusion!’ and she already did. She thanks me all the time!"
Gail’s Gear:
Machine: MacBook Pro 17", 2.4gHz, 4GB RAM
VMs: Windows XP
Virtualized Apps on the Mac:
- Microsoft Visio
- Blue Hornet Email Marketing
- Stamps.com
- Corel Paint Shop Pro
