The posts to this thread support the proposition that VMware Fusion and Parallels both have their strengths and weaknesses. Thus, there is no right or wrong answer to the question, which to chose. Fortunately, both products do a good job and those looking for a solid virtualization program would be well served by either. Trying to slavishly find a definitive answer as to which to buy in hopes that a definitive answer will present itself is, it seems to me, a fool's errand. I speak from experience because I wasted weeks of time and effort researching both Fusion and Parallels before finally accepting that while both have strengths and weaknesses, neither is markedly superior and users of either are likely to be satisfied with their choice.
The biggest downside to both Fusion and Parallels is that both require the user to also buy and install Windows. By the time the smoke clears, that can represent a pretty hefty investment. Thus, a good deal of money could be saved by those users whose Windows apps could be run in OS X using CrossOver.
