We are really excited to introduce VMware Fusion 4!
VMware Fusion 4 makes it a breeze to run Windows and Mac Applications side by side with incredible speed and the reliability users need. With more than 90 new and improved features and optimized for today’s multi-core Macs and OS X Lion, VMware Fusion 4 is better than ever.
Key highlights include:
• Designed for OS X Lion – Whether you would like to add your favorite Windows programs to Launchpad, experience them in Mission Control, view them in full screen or switch between them using Mac gestures, VMware Fusion 4 is designed to give you the best Windows experience on OS X Lion.
Get a bird's-eye view of your Mac and Windows applications in Mission Control
• Even More “Mac-like” – VMware Fusion 4 enhances the way you run Windows programs on a Mac. From the brand-new settings menu to the redesigned virtual machine library and snapshot menu, everything has been refined to give users an even more Mac- like experience when running Windows programs.
Working with snapshots is even more intuitive!
• Get Better Performance and Faster Graphics– VMware Fusion 4 has been engineered to run Windows and Mac applications side by side with incredible speed and the reliability you need. As a 64-bit Cocoa application, it is optimized for today’s multi-core Macs and delivers up to 2.5x faster 3D graphics. VMware Fusion 4 is faster than ever.
• Lion Squared – VMware Fusion 4 now supports OS X Lion in a virtual machine. VMware Fusion 4 lets users get more from their Mac by running OS X Lion, OS X Lion Server, Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server and Mac OS X Leopard Server in virtual machines.
VMware Fusion 4 supports more than 200 operating systems!
Availability and Pricing
VMware Fusion 4 is available immediately in the VMware online store and will be on the shelves starting this weekend through VMware’s network of resellers and distributors for a promotional price of $49.99 instead of $79.99.
That’s right, one edition, one price to switch to Mac and run Windows without rebooting. Everyone gets our best price through the end of the year!
What if you just bought VMware Fusion 3?
Through our Technology Guarantee Program, customers who have purchased VMware Fusion 3 since OS X Lion became available on 7/20/11 are eligible for a complimentary electronic upgrade to VMware Fusion 4. To get your free electronic upgrade click here.
If you cannot wait any longer to upgrade to VMware Fusion 4, we suggest you make the most of our VMware Fusion 4 free 30-day trial offer.
Stay Tuned! Over the next few weeks we look forward to diving deaper into some of the great new and improved features of VMware Fusion 4 on the Team Fusion blog. We hope you enjoy VMware Fusion 4 as much as we do!
It does not seem to support Lion full screen mode. I’d love to have a full screen VM that is a Lion “Desktop”. Am I missing something, or is this something that has yet to be added to the product?
No upgrade prices?
Also it’s £45 GBP but if I pay in USD then the exchange rate will pit it at £32 GBP. So seems silly to pay in GBP!
Fusion 4 sounds good.
When Fusion 3 was introduced there was (and still is) an upgrade price for existing users.
Can we expect an upgrade price to Fusion 4? Or is it likely to be pitched at the level of the introductory $49.99 offer?
I’m a long-time customer and I purchased Fusion 3 with one-year upgrade plan. So I immediately went to download Fusion 4.
After 15 minutes of struggling with the horrible, horrible chaotic mess of website that you have (seriously – it’s worse every time I come back!), I finally found licensing page that says:
“””
Upgrade Entitlements Timing
Upgrades for the following products: View 5, Fusion 4, Workstation 8, Site Recovery Manager 5, and vFabric will be available on the licensing portal by the week of 9/19.
“””
Seriously? Is *this* how you value the customers that paid extra? I’m more than a little annoyed by this.
Oh, and speaking of the quality of vmware.com site — I still couldn’t find any page where I could actually *download* Fusion. I *know* it’s there somewhere, I was downloading updates to my products from there in the past, but you did a great job of hiding that page (it was never easy to navigate to to be begin with).
What a mess.
@vsl: totally agree!!!!
I bought Fusion 1 for $48, took advantage of the free upgrade to Fusion 2, and paid $22 for the upgrade to Fusion 3.
Now you want $71 for Fusion 4?
Hi, like @vsl above I’ve also got the support subscription and had the same trouble finding information about upgrade process from 3 to 4.
I went ahead and downloaded version 4 and then used the ‘Upgrade from Fusion 3’ that appears in the mounted disk image.
It then asked me for my serial number so I put in the one I had but it says not valid, so I guess I need a new serial for 4 but unfortunately this has now removed V3 from working so I can no longer use it as it’s been upgraded to 4.
If what @vsl has stated is right that it won’t be until 9/19 before the licensing is provided then I’m quite disappointed. I now have non-functioning software so am unable to test anything! :/
Upgrade prices are missing!
Because of this I am thinking about switching to Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac for $29.99…
http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/vmwareoffer/
@Mangibu: Yeah, right! I just take a look at parallels. Maybe im switching.
So, I had high hopes for Fusion 4 after participating in the beta.
Lots of people, myself included, asked for *proper* fullscreen support. Guess what, Fusion 4 still uses that poor semi-working method from Fusion 3, even on Lion. So much for all the noise you make about supporting Lion features 🙁 I was looking forward to finally having well-working fullscreen support now that Lion makes it easy. Guess I’m out of luck.
Oh wait, I forgot — Parallels got this right. Again. It’s like you’re not even trying anymore 🙁
I hoped for better shared folders performance, too. Guess what, as bad as in Fusion 3. And yes, Parallels’ shared folders are as fast as the virtual disk, not five times slower as Fusion’s.
I don’t actually see *any* improvement in Fusion 4 worth mentioning. Ok, so I can pause VMs now — finally, after Parallels and Workstation had this for years. Good. And I can reclaim some space even for snapshotted VMs — but still not nearly as much as is possible. Half-good. And that’s about it.
P.S. The extremely slow in-my-face UI animations are very annoying. I know, you wanted to show how Mac-like Fusion is and all, but you missed a key fact about OS X UI animations: they don’t slow things up and are not in the user’s way. Fusion’s are, very much. You even made them twice as slow as in the beta, where they were slow enough already! Grr.
Hi,
I have been waiting for this before I purchase Lion. What is the path for us users who want to make the transition to windows in Lion via Fusion 4, who currently have snow leopard and fusion 3?
What’s the price?
Quote from Fusion 4 manual system requirements:
“Any Mac with a 64-bit Intel 2.0Ghz or faster processor.”
Doesn’t even support the new MacBook Airs.
At least they don’t have to support you if they don’t want to.
Does fusion now support 3D graphics for Linux client installs? That’d be a nice upgrade, and I don’t see any information about this.
Disappointed to find that horizontal scrolling still does not work with either the magic mouse or the built in trackpad on my MBP. Hasn’t Parallels had this feature covered since v5?
Any coupon codes?
@Alan No luck, still no OpenGL in Linux(
I’m really disappointed about the lack of full-screen support that uses the Lion APIs.
@mac_savant, this is a mistake. VMware Fusion 4 supports any Intel Core 2 Duo processor and above!
Sorry for the confusion.
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-17096
I just tried it, and performance wise when running windows 7 is impressive.
However, I do not know why you say fullscreen lion support because even though it runs in fullscreen, but the vm does not work as how a regular lion app works in fullscreen mode. When moving the mouse to the top of the screen, no mac menu shows up, and no restore button shown. This is not how a regular fullscreen app works in Lion. Parallels 7 implemented this properly.
Also, what disappointed me the most is that it still has no 3D hardware acceleration for linux guest.
Use promo code “fusion20” to upgrade for $39.
What happened to the VMDKmounter.app? The Fusion 4 “installer” helpfully deleted the old version but did not install a replacement. When will that functionality be replaced?
Its all Windows, Windows, Windows. Still not much love for Linux, BSD, etc.
I’m afraid we will continue having to wait months every time a new major Linux distribution is released until Fusion “supports” it.
What about cloning? Linked clones? Shared disks/bus? 3D in Linux?
VirtualBox and Parallels are becoming more and more attractive.
If there is no upgrade price for loyal version 3 users, someone in VMWare management needs a serious dope slap.
If nothing else, give the v3 users a price cut equivalent to the customer acquisition cost, since there is no cost for an existing v3 user.
Is vmware going to offer a Competitive upgrade discount for Fusion 4?
myself and a bunch of other parallels customers are pissed off at how they are handling their upgrade pricing for version 7 and I bet if VMware offered the same 29.99 competitive upgrade that they are offering. you would probable get a bunch of switchers. Myself included.
the fusion team could do way better for the full screen support in lion! i compared it with paralles & paralles is way better for lion full screen support!
PLEASE MAKE IT BETTER!
VMWare is being extremely arrogant by not offering an upgrade..
Thanks, but no thanks from a former customer 🙁
Come one guys. No teaming option like in VMware Workstation. I’m getting a bit tired of hacking my system to all of my VMs on the same vLAN inside of Fusion. It can’t be that hard to do if it can be done on Windows!
I must say I feel very let down that my upgrade “path” warrants no better price than someone who is buying in for the first time. And even at $39.95 longtime users get only a $10 discount. As a user that goes back to the early versions of VMWare I’ve noticed that upgrading existing users has become very low on VMWare’s importance scale as they have gotten bigger. Too bad.
I installed fusion 4 right away to replace fusion 3. I was looking for proper Lion integration. Althought it is an improvement I am rather disapointed. This is a rather small update. One feature I was hoping for is proper Lion full-screen integration. But it does not. If you put a VM in fullscreen mode it remains in the current desktop. For it to occupy its own space you need to move it manually. This is improper implementation since in Lion a fullscreen app is automatically granted its own space. This really annoys me.
Also they advertise getting your PC apps icons in the Lauchpad but again the implementation is poor. All the control you have is a check box. I would want to select which apps are added to the launchpad much like we can select which are added to the menubar icon menu.
Hi, seems like an upgrade worth it, I’m just wondering one thing, is there any kind of hardware acceleration on osx guest? SL server was sluggish as hell, and I fear it’ll be even worse using Lion. Thanks for your answers!
Just adding my voice to those disappointed with the lack of proper fullscreen support on Lion. Will likely not purchase when trial is up due to this.
Incredibly disappointed in pricing for anyone with previous versions. Especially for long time users paying for each upgrade. Funny as I am using windows less and less each year so perhaps will not even need virtual machine soon. Read the comments and make us an offer!
PS Soren, promo code does not work. Just tested…
Although I’ve been very happy with the function of Fusion for several years, the performance seems to have been becoming more and more sluggish.
Given the Parallels conversion pricing for VMware users that is close to the Fusion 4 upgrade price, I’m looking at options.
So far Parallels performance looks much better for my Windows 7 VM. Looks like it’s locking down memory. Is there an option to do that with Fusion?
OS X Lion’s full-screen feature is absolutely perfect for a software package like VMware Fusion. I’m baffled to see that you guys didn’t even bothered tapping into the new API and keeping your own (which means no three-finger swipe to switch desktops). Real disappointment, one big enough that I’m considering switching to Parallels or holding off the upgrade to Fusion 4.0 until you addressed this.
After using the trial I also noticed that the Virtual Machine Library window doesn’t shrink back to its original size after suspending a guest. Pretty annoying as well.
Sad. Just tried following the route to upgrading my Fusion 3 to 4.. But unfortunately the vmware site says:
Fusion and Workstation Technology Guarantee Program customers, you will receive your upgrade via email no later than October 15, 2011, please see this Frequently Asked Questions document for availability information.
Arh.. Why why why do I have to wait.. And why du you submit false info here 🙁
So – as a customer since version 2 – I have to pay $49.99 USD for a new version, or , $29.99 USD if I move to the latest Parallels …
Paying a 65% premium to stay ?
I really can’t see a Real differentiator …
Need help. I read that to upgrade from Fusion 3 to 4, it uninstalls 3. This doesn’t sound like an upgrade. I had created my VM straight from my PC, so does that mean I now have to rebuild that all over again using version 4?
Interesting that rzilla wrote
> myself and a bunch of other parallels customers
> are pissed off at how they are handling
> their upgrade pricing for version 7
I was so disappointed at the lack of upgrade pricing for VMware Fusion 3 users that I downloaded a trial version of Parallels 7.
Parallels converted my Fusion 3 Windows 7 VM perfectly and runs much faster.
So I paid the Parallels competitive upgrade price.
Maybe when Parallels 8 comes out, if there is no upgrade pricing, I will join the ranks of their unhappy customers. But for now I am pleased with the much improved VM performance I’m seeing.
No upgrade pricing!? Makes me sad. I may never upgrade. Reading through the comments, you guys better get on this ASAP or you’ll have a lot less customers.
While I’m disappointed at the lack of an upgrade price for existing Fusion users, citing the Parallels “competitive upgrade” price is a bit misleading. Yes, it’s cheaper to side-grade to Parallels than it is to go to Fusion 4, but look at Parallels’ standard upgrade pricing (the pricing that their current customers would have to pay): it’s the exact same as what Fusion 4 currently costs. For better or for worse, Parallels also puts out major upgrades more frequently than VMWare does. If you’re thinking purely in terms of money, the switch to Parallels seems a bit short-sighted.
I am going to chime in and say that I am also not happy with the no upgrade pricing. As a person who has used this product since before it was released I am pretty confident I will not upgrade unless there is an upgrade price.
I agree. Loyal customers who wish to upgrade deserve an upgrade price. Parallels is a great alternative these days.
Also the lack of response here shows how much they really care. Why allow comments if you dont read or respond to them. 9 days have passed and not one customer service chime in.
I am amazed at how you have IGNORED all your existing users who are looking for an upgrade path from 3.x to 4 and some (small) $ advantage for loyalty.
I guess my conversion from Parallels to Fusion will end having been more of a visit that a conversion.
So sad.
Is anyone at VMWare following this thread? If so, maybe you can tell your bosses that your main competitor has done a brilliant marketing move by offering a cheaper competitive upgrade to your own customers. That ought to go over well…
Due to the lack of upgrade pricing from Fusion 3 to Fusion 4, I bought a competitive ($30) copy of Parallels 7, and it’s working out fine.
On my 27″ iMac Core i5, Parallels had no trouble converting a copy of my Fusion 3 VM into a Parallels VM, and Parallels is significantly snappier than Fusion 3 was. That means I’m through shopping. I have no reason to buy Fusion 4 now. For the record, I’ve had absolutely zero problems with Parallels 7. I run FrameMaker under Windows 7, and so far, it’s a much better experience than it was with Fusion 3.
So… Fellow VMWare 3 owners, why not give Parallels 7 a try while you’re waiting for that upgrade pricing that might never come?
Well I for one *DO NOT LIKE* the new Lion fullscreen. If you have dual monitors on Mac then Lion Fullscreen won’t let you use the second monitor, it’s just a grey background, and you can’t use it for anything – so VMWare did the right thing there.
But why no upgrade pricing?? I’ve been using VMWare Fusion since 1.0. Where’s the Love?
@George,
Just because Lion full-screen does not work well with a second monitor, does not mean Fusion did the right thing not supporting it. Most users do not use a second monitor, so for them use of Lion’s full screen feature is preferable. Parallels did the right thing by giving users the ability to choose whether to use Lion’s full-screen feature or Parallel’s own full screen feature thereby appeasing both groups of users.
I’m hugely disappointed by the lack of support for Lion’s fullscreen feature. It is the only reason I am probably going to switch to Parallels.
FAQ:
What if I purchased VMware Fusion 3 before July 20, 2011?
VMware Fusion 4 has been optimized for OS X Lion and we provide a free electronic upgrade to customers who purchased VMware Fusion 3 as soon as OS X Lion became available. Customers who purchased VMware Fusion 3 before the OS X Lion availability will need to buy a full license of VMware Fusion 4 to obtain all its new features and enhancements.
An update price never come!
So i will switch to P7 for 30$
Just switched to parallels 7 for $29. Sorry vmware you just lost a customer since v .99. Good luck with your horrible new product pricing strategy.
Just upgraded to 4.0. I rarely used 3.x with Windows 7 because it didn’t handle the desktop background (it kept changing it to black) and I kept getting “not a valid copy” errors but all is now fixed. Good job!
No upgrade pricing? I think I’ll switch to parallels 7.
Found it, yup, no upgrade pricing…
“VMware Fusion 4 has been optimized for OS X Lion and we provide a free electronic upgrade to customers who purchased VMware Fusion 3 as soon as OS X Lion became available. Customers who purchased VMware Fusion 3 before the OS X Lion availability will need to buy a full license of VMware Fusion 4 to obtain all its new features and enhancements.”
Vmware is kinda looking a LOT like Intuit, No upgrade pricing!
Trying fusion 4 ruined my fusion 3 installation. I’m done with fusion – I’m going to install something else.