Core Dump

Although MadCap Flare is a Windows only tool, it is possible to run it on other platforms by using virtualization tools, as this post from The Tech Pub points out.

With virtualization, I had a few choices. Mac has a program called Parallels, which allows you to run another operating system (Windows, for example) on top of the Mac operating system, for around 80 bucks.

There’s an Open Source solution, VirtualBox, offered by Sun, that will also run on Mac (or Windows, Linux, or OpenSolaris).

And also, there is VMware’s Fusion for Mac, which, like Parallels, for around 80 bucks will let you run your second operating system on top of Mac OS X.

In the end, the choice ended up being made for me – my company bought licenses for Fusion (since we develop software that runs on VMware, it was the logical choice).

Once installed, I used Fusion to load a pre-built Windows XP virtual machine. Once booted, the virtual version of Windows is no different than Windows running on a dedicated device – I was able to install Flare, adjust my environment settings, and I was ready to go. The real beauty, of using Fusion, though, is Unity mode. This allows you to run your Windows applications as if they’re running natively, on Mac. Basically, Unity mode strips away the Windows OS front-end and allows the Windows apps to be launched directly from Mac OS X. They appear right in the dock when running, just like any other Mac application.

Labels: MadCap., technical communication