Exclusive: VMWare being ported to Mac (UPDATE)

Very reliable sources recently informed MacOSXRumors that VMWare, the maker of virtualisation solutions for Windows and Linux, is currently porting its software on Mac OS X.

Sources told us that the company is already successfully running the Mac version of its software with Linux and Windows operating systems in its labs.

VMWare is offering several flavors of its virtualisation software for Windows and Linux. The three most known are:
- VMWare Player - freeware application allowing to run existing VMWare images but cannot create any,
- VMWare Workstation - can create and run a virtual environment,
- VMWare Server - can create, run a virtual environment and serve it on a network.

Enterprise products from VMWare also include VMWare ESX Server, VMWare GSX Server and VMWare VirtualCenter. They're offering infrastructure virtualisation and management.

The Mac version could actually come in one version only. We don't know exactly which features it will include, but we can expect a similar feature-set to VMWare Workstation. Sources also told us that the company is considering making it available for free.

Since Apple announced its first Intel-based Macs in January, the only virtualisation solution that has already been made available for Intel-based Macs is WinTel (OpenOSX). However, Lismore Systems and Parallels have already announced their plans to offer similar solutions later this year. Microsoft, which is currently offering Virtual PC, has been very vague about the future of its product.

What we can say with certainty is that users of the new Intel-based Macs will have a wide range of choices for virtualisation applications by the year end.

UPDATE: Parallels now offers Workstation 2.1 Beta version of its virtualisation solution for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

UPDATEx2 A discussion thread about virtualisation on Mac has been opened on MacCulture.