September has been a remarkable month for desktop hypervisors, with four major players – Oracle, Parallels, VMware, and VirtualBox – delivering significant updates.
Oracle’s VirtualBox 7.1 boasts a modernized user interface with reduced or full UI functionality, depending on the user level. Additionally, it now allows users to run Linux and BSD code for the Arm architecture on macOS hosts.
Parallels has also released an update, version 20 of its eponymous tool, which offers a virtual machine packed with tools for developers working on generative AI applications. The VM includes Docker, lmutils, OpenCV, and Ollama chatbot interface for AI models.
VMware’s Fusion and Workstation products have also received updates. Workstation reached version 17.6 and added vmcli, a command-line tool that enables users to interact with the hypervisor directly from a terminal or command prompt. This feature allows for various operations such as creating new virtual machines, generating VM templates, powering on VMs, and modifying settings.
Fusion also gained vmcli in its version 13.6 update, which can be found on the product’s changelog.
These updates bring significant improvements to the world of desktop hypervisors, making it easier for developers to work on AI applications and manage virtual machines.
Source: https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/17/virtualbox_parallels_vmware_workstation_fusion_upgrades/