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1. Mac File Type Association. In Parallels I can double-click on a .VSD file in the Mac Finder and have it launch Visio from within the Parallels Guest machine. The net result is that Visio opens in Coherence as if it were just a Mac app having already opened the file I double clicked on. I tried associating the .VSD file on the mac with the …VMware/…/Applications/Microsoft Windows XP.app that Fusion creates. This results in a launch of Visio, but it does not result in Visio launching and opening the file that I double-clicked.

2. Default Web clients. In parallels, when I’m in email (e.g., Outlook 2003) and I click on a web link, it launches Safari on my Mac. This is great. Is there some way to do this in Fusion?

3. Integrated/Shared Folders. Parallels lets me map my Mac ~/Documents folder to replace the MyDocuments folder in my XP drive. Can this be done with Fusion?

4. Multiple Screen Support. In Parallels, in Coherence, I can move any Fusion/Unity window among my 3-30″ displays. Fusion seems to limit me to a single display. Is there someway to make it work across all 3 displays?

5. 2-directional DragNDrop from email. When I run Outlook 2003 in Unity mode, I can drop a file from the Mac in into the email window and the file gets added as an attachment (super cool). However, the converse does not seem to work. I cannot take an attachment in the Outlook 2003 window and drag it to the Mac desktop. Is there some way to make this happen?

Thanks for any pointers!

Q and VirtualBox aren’t capable of 3D but then VirtualBox was an internal app that got released to the public because they didn’t have a need for it. If you want simple virtualisation then VirtualBox is great but Q has issues I’ve found, namely that it can destroy your virtual machines if not treated delicately.

As to VMWare over Parallels it’s a tough call these days. In a corporate environment I’d use VMWare over Parallels but for your average user Parallels is just as good now (version 3 and above) as VMWare. There’s also more regular releases of updates with Parallels which makes it slightly more value for money in my opinion.

If you guys could provide howtos on getting Darwine and VirtualBox to work, I think you’d be the first ones on the net to do so. You might get some Diggs that way. Everyone loves free alternatives to pricy options!

Also great tips Superdotman. Do any of the freeware VM apps offer any type of Directx/OpenGL/3D support? I think that is what really separates the pack, aside from the price.