Launch the application, and you'll be asked if you want to submit anonymous data and statistics. Your online VMware account will include a trial license key which you'll need to supply; then, click OK and you'll be taken to the application's Virtual Machine Library. Click Create New. VMware will ask you what kind of disk you'll be installing from. In my instance, I was using Remote Disk from a MacBook Air, so I clicked "Continue without disc" and then navigated to the disc, which was being shared from an iMac eight feet away.

VMware will recognize your operating system as Windows but suggest that it's XP; you'll want to change that option to the closest available, which Windows 7 as of this writing. Also, as VMware defaults to allocating 1GB of RAM to the VM, I changed that to 2GB, the Windows 8 recommended minimum. Select Customize Settings, and VMware will prompt you first to save the file. Then click on Processors and Memory and increase the amount of RAM to 2GB.

Close the Settings window and your virtual machine shows a movie-like start arrow. Click it and you're in business. Unlike with Parallels, you'll need to supply the Windows activation code when prompted, as with a standard Windows installation process.

If you don't want to pay to try Windows 8 and, for whatever reason, you don't want to use Boot Camp, you can use VirtualBox, Oracle's free virtualization software.