Virtualization on Mac OS X -- Wow!

I've written about this before, but wanted to share some more thoughts about my current laptop setup, and why I absolutely love it.

First and foremost, I am a Linux geek. It took me a while to be converted, and I still remember the early days... Walking around with my laptop and an external hard drive with Fedora Core.

I eventually started using Ubuntu as my main OS, and did so until this past June, when I bought a Mac. I tried to get Ubuntu running, but the amount of time I had to invest to get all the drivers working was a bit much, and I decided to use OS X. I miss Ubuntu, and use it as much as I can. Now that I'm working on my research again, Ubuntu is becoming more and more prevalent in my life.

And this is where VMWare Fusion enters. I run OS X, enjoy Ubuntu immensely, and also got on the beta testing wagon for Windows 7...

So here's what I do when I need to run multiple OSes. I enter full screen mode in VMWare Fusion, and have six desktops running in OS X. In full screen mode, I have either Ubuntu or Windows 7 (sometimes, but rarely, both). Even when I'm using Ubuntu or Windows, I still have the ability to switch between Desktops in OS X. This means I can be in full screen mode on any one of my OSes, and simply switch out of them using the standard Mac commands. I end up with four Mac spaces, an Ubuntu space, and a Windows 7 space... All easily accessible with a simple key press.

Talk about multiple Desktops in Mac... Now if only I had the multiple computer monitors I used back in Canada!

To make things even more wonderful, VMWare Fusion allows you to share folders between the various operating systems. So now when I do my research, I can actually modify the same files, documents, and presentations in any of the operating systems. How sweet is that?

This is such an awesome feature, and I just can't write enough about it. For anyone who enjoys working in multiple operating systems, I really recommend trying this.