For those interested in running Windows on an Intel-based Mac, this week brought two interesting announcements. First, in the ongoing battle of one-upmanship between Parallels and VMware, Parallels announced a new initiative [1] to help developers package and distribute virtual appliances - prepackaged virtual machines containing a full operating system and applications, configured to perform specific tasks and ready to run without any setup. The Parallels Technology Network [2] provides developer support and documentation; developers who submit virtual appliances that meet the requirements created by Parallels can be listed in the Parallels Virtual Appliances Directory, which is very much like VMware's Virtual Appliance Marketplace [3].
Meanwhile, Parallels Desktop [4] and VMware Fusion [5] now have another competitor: Innotek's VirtualBox [6], a free, open-source virtualization environment previously available only for Windows and Linux. Now available in its first public beta for Mac OS X [7], VirtualBox lets users of Intel-based Macs install and run numerous versions of Windows, DOS, and Linux, as well as other Unix-like operating systems. VirtualBox for OS X Hosts Beta 1 is a 16 MB download.
[1]: http://ptn.parallels.com/en/news/id,11293
[2]: http://ptn.parallels.com/
[3]: http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/
[4]: http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/
[5]: http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/fusion/
[6]: http://www.virtualbox.org/
[7]: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads