Parallels Desktop for Mac vs. VMware ThinApp (discontinued) vs. VMware Workstation Player

Parallels is great for an end user that is primarily a macOS user, but occasionally needs Windows access to a specific application or service that is Windows only, or Windows primarily. It obviates the need for multiple desktop units or remote VMs where spin up time is an issue. It is not quite perfect due to the ARM version of Windows requirement, but that particular case is common to all ARM use of Windows.

Incentivized

VMware ThinApp is really great for simple packaging projects, standalone apps, or older apps that needs specific runtimes or environment which are not available on target operating systems. Integration with VMware Horizon is simple, and deployment is easy by using shares for storing captured apps, or MSI packages for deploying by group strategies.

Incentivized

VMware will work great for the following test scenarios:

• Testing windows updates on a system
• Testing a new software or a new software version
• Creating a sandbox to test options/features of an OS
• Creating different VM to test a software on different OS without the need to have physical machines for all of them

You can also use it as a "player" only where you have that static VM that you run from time to time as with my use for SAS University. Whenever you need to use the software, you simply start that VM.

Incentivized

• The configurations & space allocations can be done on parallels.
• It integrates very well with the Mac; copying/pasting and sharing files can be done between the two platforms - Windows/Mac.
• It supports virtual machines, Touch-ID (which works on Mac and will work on Windows, too), and bridges the gap between two operating systems.

Incentivized

• Virtualizes applications for easy deployment
• Allows you to run two versions of the same software at the same time.
• Outstanding customer support

Incentivized

• VMware Player is easy to use.
• VMware Player supports a wide variety operating systems.
• Unity mode makes it easy for the end user to utilize needed legacy applications while maintaining their familiar Host OS desktop. It's seamless to the point where the end user doesn't know they're running applications from a VM.

Incentivized

• Having to buy a new upgrade whenever Apple updates the OS with its yearly releases seems a bit excessive.
• The integration features between Windows and Mac are enabled by default, which can clutter both sides; I would rather it was not default.

Incentivized

• VMware seems to have abandoned the product (no functionality evolutions, only security patches).
• VMware ThinApp is really difficult to buy standalone, it comes packaged with other products.

Incentivized

• Would be nice to use more VMs at once, but this is basically trial software, so it's hard to fault them.

Incentivized

Users are familiar with the application which will keep us going for a little while. However since we are seeing a decline for a need for the software, I wouldn't be surprised to find that this answer changes dramatically in the near future. We would probably keep it to some extent, but we would probably reduce our licensing count.

Incentivized

I give a rating of 8 because VMware Player has its use cases, for example it requires the host OS to be logged in, and the VMware Player application to be opened and the Guest VM started. Only one VM can run at a time. I'd give a 9/10 to VMware Workstation because you can run shared VMs at startup without logging in or starting the workstation application. and i'd give ESX a 10/10 because ESX is the leader in enterprise visualization.

Incentivized

It has a good integration, including the connection of peripherals. Taking files back and forth works well and I can attach my Home drive as a network drive in Windows. There is even integration with iCloud and other macOS services. There are also a few different display modes which are useful and fleixible (coherence, windowed, full-screen with multiple screens)

Incentivized

Great product. Its user-friendly GUI and overall performance are really the biggest strength of this tool. The reason why I don't give a higher note is because of the price. Although it's decent (starting at around $200 for a license), there is a good free alternative in VirtualBox. Not everyone values friendly GUI as something worth paying for. For people that are more tech-savvy, I would recommend looking into VirtualBox as they might actually like the model better (with downloadable add-ons and packages).

Incentivized

Integration isn't really relevant here but I see this question more as an OS compatibility for the VM. They state that they support over 200 different OS versions. I honestly have never tried anything else other than Ubuntu and Windows myself but nonetheless, this is impressive. I have not hit any limitation in my use of this software in terms of limitation or conflicts with other software.

Incentivized

The Parallels documentation and support websites are great. I have not had much use for them, but a cursory check shows richly documented features aimed at both the layperson and the power user or software developer. Their website is well-designed and information is easy to find, and their list of known issues as well as bugfixes on point releases is clear and transparent. They aren't trying to hide any of the limitations of their software, and seem to be regularly updating it to fix new bugs that arise with Mac OS X updates.

Incentivized

VMware support is very knowledgeable on their products, eveything from AirWatch to ESX clusters. VMware is easy to contact, they stay in touch and see the issue through to the end and a final resolution. They keep you up to date on your issue status and don't leave you waiting for answers.

Incentivized

The only advice I can provide is think about who is using the product and build the image based on the true needs of the user.

Incentivized

Installing the application was easily completed on the twenty computers that needed VMware Player. Once those 20 users were configured we copied our virtual machine template to the 20 users and turned on their newly provisioned virtual machines. We then configured unity mode so the user could easily work from within the virtual machine from their host desktop.

Incentivized

Main two features that made the balance decission go to the Parallels Desktop were the possibility to pause the Windows partition easily (allowing to consume less resources in Mac and save battery) and the other one is the user interface feature called "Coherence" with allows you to show the Windows application windows as if they were native to the macOS, allowing for a better user experience.

Incentivized

The only application that I have ever used that does exactly what VMware ThinApp does is Cameyo, and VMware is light years ahead of them in terms of usability. VMWare is the industry standard for application virtualization, and they do this by making a powerful product that is remarkably simple to use and top it off with A1 customer support.

Incentivized

Both free, VMware supports USB 3.0 while VirtualBox does not. VMware supports nested hardware-assisted virtualization while VirtualBox does not.

Incentivized

• Saves money on having to buy a Windows and MacBook, as the MacBook can run almost 99% of all Windows software and usually run it faster and share between your MacBook transparently.
• Gives employers the most flexibility with regards to which OS to adopt across an enterprise
• We are a media company and everyone uses Macs in our industry, Fortune 500 companies also use Windows and MS Project, Parallels gives you the most flexibility for almost all of these use cases
• Improves efficiency as the MacBook Pro M3 systems are much faster than some of the fastest corporate issued Windows laptops. What takes me 3-10 seconds for a video export can take 5 minutes on a similar Windows laptop

Incentivized

• VMware ThinApp allowed us to maintain older apps, avoiding refactoring costs.
• ThinApp used with VMware Horizon is great to separate desktop and app management, allowing to fine-tune desktop delivery to end users.

Incentivized

• A positive impact is that it require little to no funding to use.
• Negative impact is that because it is free it can be hard to get support.