VMware Workstation 7 vs. VMware Player 3 features?

Question

Now that the VMware Player 3 is out with the ability to create virtual machines, I am wondering what I would get for $189 for the full VMware Workstation. Is there a feature matrix somewhere?

Edit: I've read the FAQ (http://www.vmware.com/products/player/faqs.html) but am looking for a more complete description of the differences.

Solution 1

Here is a comparison for the VmWare products: http://vmfaq.com/entry/5/

Solution 2

Basically you get multiple snapshots, clones, record and replay and a bunch of other advanced features.

If you're an end user just looking to virtualize an OS, then you won't gain any benefit and there are plenty of free products that will meet your need. Virtualization has become a commodity product (Virtual PC, Virtualbox, VMware Player, and so on) - VMware is just keeping up with the other free offerings.

However, if you're doing software development, QA, etc. then you'll take advantage of the additional features found in VMware Workstation - Put it this way... ask your boss... "want me to wait around and waste time for a few hours a week, or will you shell out $190 for a Workstation license?"

Solution 3

From the VMWare player F.A.Q

VMware Player lacks many powerful features, such as Teams, multiple Snapshots and Clones, or Virtual Rights Management features for end-point security found in VMware Workstation ...

http://www.vmware.com/products/player/faqs.html

Comments

[Borek Bernard]

Thanks, I should have made clear that I have read the FAQ and am looking for some more information.

[Admin]

basically if we just want to compile the code for an application so that it can run on different os will the vmware player(containing target os) be sufficient for this?

[saschabeaumont]

Sufficient, yes.