VMware Fusion 2.0 reaches RC1 stage

With another push toward the finish line, VMware finds itself one step closer to launching the anticipated release of VMware Fusion 2.0, the company’s new desktop virtualization platform for Apple Mac users.

Just like VMware Fusion 2 Beta 1 and Beta 2 builds, the release candidate is free to download. And VMware Fusion 2.0 will be a free, downloadable upgrade for all VMware Fusion 1.x customers when it is released.

With this release, VMware is taking measures to ensure safety with using the product.

“One of the things we’ve been focusing on in VMware Fusion 2 is how to make running Windows on your Mac as safe as possible,” said Peter Kazanjy, in product marketing at VMware Fusion. “Multiple Snapshots and AutoProtect help protect you in case something does go wrong, but it’s also important to make sure that Windows stays proactively safe. Which is why we partnered with McAfee to help VMware Fusion customers understand that antivirus software in their Windows install is an important part of that overall safety story, while a 12-month complimentary subscription helps lower the barrier to protecting themselves.”

VMware Fusion 2.0 includes a complimentary 12-month subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus to make sure your Windows XP and Vista virtual machines remain clean and virus free. You can install VirusScan Plus right from the VMware Fusion menu bar, just as easily as installing VMware Tools.

VMware Fusion 2.0 offers an even safer way to run Windows on your Mac, providing even more ways to protect your virtual machines. Fusion 2.0 offers the capability to manage multiple snapshots — giving you the opportunity to save different snapshots of your virtual machine for different purposes. It also offers AutoProtect which automatically takes snapshots of running virtual machines at set intervals to help protect you from the unexpected — giving you hourly, daily, or weekly snapshot checkpoints of your virtual machine.

The latest release also enhances the product’s 2D and 3D graphics, adds two new languages (Italian and Spanish), and gives developers the capability to launch Web page projects into any Windows browser they like (Windows IE, Firefox, Opera, or Safari), not just the Windows-default browser.

You can find out about more new features, additions and bug fixes by reading the VMware Fusion 2.0 release notes.

Go download your copy of VMware Fusion 2.0 RC1.