![]() ![]() Despite the "beta" label, I’ve run all the releases in my personal production environment and feel confident that I’ve stress-tested fairly thoroughly. The final release is a polished, stable product with more features than the initial beta suggested, although still lacking a few pieces that advanced users familiar with VMWare might miss. I’m pretty sure the Parallels development team hasn’t slept since the first beta, as the following two and a half months included nearly weekly releases full of significant performance and feature improvements. That said, it ran Windows, it ran all the software I needed (including our corporate VPN), and ran it all faster than my PC at work. Performance was decent, but the first beta was plagued with poor memory management, limited features (such as a lack of file exchange with the host system), and bugs that crashed my Mac during such uncommon tasks as putting it to sleep. Unlike any of the other tools I tested or reviewed, including Apple’s Boot Camp, I was able to install any version of Windows, all updates, and all major software packages. For anything short of gaming, Parallels Desktop is the best option for running Windows (and more) on a Mac.įrom Beta Program to Release - Parallels released their first beta of Parallels Desktop for Mac (called Parallels Workstation at the time) just as I was completing my previous article for TidBITS the first week of April. Although there’s still plenty of room for improvement, it’s one of the few pieces of software I can strongly recommend without reservations, and one that might just change the world’s perceptions of Macs. I’m normally quite cynical and critical of new technology products, but Parallels Desktop so far surpasses initial expectations that’s it’s hard to avoid waxing poetic. (See my last article, "WinOnMac Smackdown: Dual-Boot versus Virtualization" for a more thorough explanation of virtualization and how it differs from Apple’s Boot Camp beta implementation.) And this isn’t due to the powers of giants like Microsoft (Virtual PC), EMC (VMWare), or even open source (QEMU), but rather a diminutive yet nimble startup called Parallels. But with this final chapter I’m proud to say my switch to a full-time Mac user is complete, ahead of schedule, and virtualization is far more powerful than I ever expected merely six months after the release of the first Intel Macs. Parallels Desktop: The Switch Is Completeīack when I first contacted TidBITS to write my article "From iPod to MacBook Pro: A Switcher’s Tale," I never expected it would result in a trilogy dedicated to the state of virtualization on a Mac. #1663: Exploring the Apple Vision Pro, 12 more OS features coming in 2023, new Apple service features, Apollo shuts down.#1664: Real system requirements for OS 2023, beware Siri creating alarms instead of timers.#1665: Important OS security updates, abusive Web notifications, solve myopia with an iPhone, Self Service Repair.#1666: Air quality websites and apps, The Password Game.#1667: OS Rapid Security Responses, 1Password and 2FA, using Siri to request music. ![]()
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