Last month VMware released version 8.0 of Workstation, and while normally in line with Workstation, no update of Player or ACE was released. Now VMware has released version 4.0 of its virtualization platform Player and version 2.7.5 of its platform wrapper product ACE.
VMware player now only installs on workstations which have a 64-bit x86 CPU, and have LAHF/SAHF support in long mode, and if you want to install guests with a 64 bit os, you need either an AMD CPU with segment-limit support in long mode, or an Intel CPU which has VT-x support.
Player 4.0 provides the following new functionality:
- Display technology improvements for Unity and multiple monitors
- Support for up to 64 GB for VMs
- HD Audio device, compatible with the RealTek ALC888
- USB 3.0 support for Linux guests (Not for Windows!)
- Bluetooth sharing with Windows guests.
ACE 2.7.5 provides the following new functionality and also solves some issues:
- The AMS servers now run on RHEL 5.5 and SLES 10. RHEL 4 and SLES 9 are no longer supported hosts.
- The AMS servers now run Apache 2.2.15.
- The AMS appliance now runs on CentOS 5.5.
- Performance and scalability enhancements.