VMware will virtualize Mac OS X

Since the day Apple changed its licensing to allow virtualized copy of Mac OS X Server on its own hardware, the competition between Parallels and VMware reached a new level.

The first support statement came from Parallels which will provide Leopard Server virtual machines on its upcoming Parallels Server.

Few weeks after also VMware is ready to confirm the same feature coming:

Today, we are pleased to say that VMware is able to virtualize Mac OS X Leopard Server on Apple hardware using VMware’s proven Mac virtualization engine. We will be demonstrating this achievement with our “Mac OS X Server in a Virtual Machine” Technology Preview…

And since Mac OS X Leopard has moved to 64-bit, we are able to leverage VMware’s proven 64-bit support to run Mac OS X Server at it’s full potential, a feature that has been a VMware exclusive for more than three years.

The one question we know we will get asked is will VMware support Mac OS X Server on non-Apple hardware. While this is only a technology preview today, VMware works closely with Apple and respects their licensing policies and as such Mac OS X Server in a virtual machine will only be supported on Apple hardware per Apple’s license agreement…

What VMware doesn’t explicitly say is which product will allow Mac OS X Server virtual machines and speculations about a possible Fusion Server (aka VMware Server for Mac) are already all around.