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VMware has released an update of its Fusion desktop virtualization software for Intel-based Macs, the company announced Monday. Fusion 1.1 includes support 
for Leopard, the latest version of Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) 
Mac OS X operating system, as well as more than 25 enhancements and improvements.
"We have been extremely pleased with the success of VMware Fusion," said Dan Chu, vice president of emerging products and markets at VMware. "Mac customers have really embraced VMware Fusion for the intuitive user interface and stable, high performance experience it delivers. We expect our customers will be equally thrilled with the improvements found in today's update."
VMware Fusion 1.1 is a free update and is available immediately for all VMware Fusion 1.0 customers. Users can download the update from the VMware Web site.
New and Improved
In addition to new support for Leopard, the updated application also includes access to more Windows 3-D applications and games with experimental support for DirectX 9.0 accelerated 3-D graphics.
VMware also made improvements to Unity, which allows users to minimize Windows applications to the Mac OS X Dock and switch between Windows and Mac applications using Exposi. Now the tool includes support for Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit editions as well as Windows XP 64-bit edition. "My Computer," "My Documents," "My Network Places," "Control Panel," "Run" and "Search" are now available in the Applications menu, Dock applications menus and the Launch application windows.
Users also have the option to show or hide the Windows taskbar and Start menu in the VMware Fusion View menu. In addition, users can choose when the VMware Fusion Launch Applications window appears. VMWare has also improved performance when users are resizing and dragging windows in Unity view.
Integration with Boot Camp has also been enhanced. Users can utilize Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Vista Boot Camp partitions in VMware Fusion virtual machines and automatically remount Boot Camp partitions after Boot Camp virtual machine is shut down. The software maker has also improved support for detecting and preparing Boot Camp partitions for use as virtual machines.
iPhone Ready
Other improvements include the ability to sync iPhone with Outlook in Windows virtual machines. The eject key now ejects the optical drive when attached to a virtual machine. To enhance security , VMware Shared Folders created with Windows Easy Install now defaults to Read-Only access of the Mac's home directory.
The development of VMware's Fusion went a long way in making the Mac a business-friendly machine, said Natalie Lambert, a Forrester Research analyst.
"With the decreasing separation of professional and personal PCs, Fusion opened the door for many users to finally be able to run their personal applications separate from their business applications all on the same machine," Lambert told TechNewsWorld.
"With Fusion 1.1, it was yet again made slightly easier. While I don't find the '.1' release earth shattering -- it was only a dot release -- it will go a long way in making the Windows experience on a Mac just that much better. And as it gets better, the Mac becomes a viable platform for the business user," she concluded.
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