decidedlyodd

Without going into too much detail (it’s probably confidential or something anyways), I have to use a smart card reader to work from home. The problem is that the necessary software only works on Windows. Being that I have a Mac this is somewhat of a hassle. I have a dedicated Windows PC, but it’s loud and takes up its own extra space on my desk (actually my dining room table–I still need to get more furniture).

When I bought my first Intel-based Mac, I was excited that I’d be able to use Parallels Desktop. Unfortunately, its USB support is very limited and it just refused to work with my smart card reader. Since then, I’d pretty much given up on getting this to ever work.

Well, a few months ago I heard that VMware, the industry standard for this sort of software was going to create a Mac version of their software. I gave them my email for the beta announcement, which was sent out just a couple days ago. This morning, I installed the VMware Fusion Beta to see if I could get things set up for working from home. After downloading the software, installing Windows, getting the stuff setup for working from home, etc. it’s actually working!

So far I’ve been very impressed with VMware’s product. Unlike Parallels, I don’t have to fight with it to get things done. Resources like the CD/DVD drive and the USB smart card reader connect automatically without any arcane tricks. It just works for the most part, which is exactly how every Mac (and non-Mac) product should ideally work. It’ll be interesting to see what the final released version is like and how much it will cost. Comparable software for the PC is nearly $200. I might be willing to pay that much I suppose, but I’ll just have to wait and see.