I upgraded VMware on my home server last night….

Man what a disappointment! I upgraded because of the promise of 64bit guest support, only to find that it only works on CPUs with VT or AMD-V support. Also, the web UI lacks major polish compared to version 1. It’s fully functional, but it’s very ugly and everything is just crammed in.

Version 1 had a web UI for day to day management (starting & stopping VMs, tweaking networks etc.) and a separate Windows application for console access. VMware tried to make an all powerful web UI for version 2, and integrated the console functionality.

There must have been a backlash during the beta, because they’ve included VMware Infrastructure Client at the last minute. It leads to an odd division of capabilities. On the VMware Infrastructure Client I can create a new VM or import an appliance, but I can’t open an existing VM. On the Web UI I can create a new VM or open an existing one, but I can’t import an appliance.

What’s happened is that in version 1 you had a web UI for management and a console application for maintenance. Now both functions are split between interfaces, which is a pain in the rear.