Naquada

I downloaded and used Parallels Desktop for Mac a while ago, and was very impressed with how well it worked on my intel Macs. Like a lot VM type software, Parallels uses the new Intel virtualisation functionality.

Basically, you can run windows (or another OS) and mac together, each in their own true (unlike VMware or Virtual PC type offerings) space. When I tested it with a standard Windows XP build, it seemed to fly (although you really want to make sure you have about 2 gig of ram). I put it onto the list of items to buy at some point, given I’ve almost completely removed Windows machines from my network.

What’s now very different, and very unique is Parallels Coherence support. Coherence is quote ‘..a groundbreaking feature that lets users run Windows applications without seeing Windows. When a user switches to Coherence mode, their Windows desktop disappears, leaving their Windows applications running directly on their Mac desktop. This is the first opportunity ever for Mac users to run Windows applications in an effectively native environment!’

Windows itself vanishes.. and you’re left with the applications running natively on the Mac Desktop, you can even drop Windows applications onto the mac dock, and treat them just as if they were windows applications. As you can see from the screen shot, that’s MSProject running on the Mac desktop next to iPhoto and Internet Explorer, just like it was a native Mac Application. It’s worth watching the video on the site to see just how funky this is!!!

Parallels have also added Transporter to the latest version. this allows you to convert an existing windows machine over to Parallels, or convert VMware and Virtual PC images into Parallels. The Transporter seems to be a Mac and PC application. You install it onto the machine to be ‘cloned’ run it. It then proceeds to clone the machine either via the network, or onto removable media in a Parallels compatible image.

The other excellent news for those wanting to go out and buy big new shiny PC’s running Vista, is that vista is supported not only under Apple’s Boot Camp but also under this version of Parallels, meaning you can have a Vista install running as applications on the mac, or as a full boot OS, or in a nice window.

Parallels seems to really fly, and looks like a great alternative to having Windows and Mac set ups, just for a few windows applications that are Mac ported, such as FLStudio and Acid Pro. Both these music applications may never hit a Windows release, but are bits of software I use(d) a lot before I decided to abandon Windows in favour of Mac OSX.

Lifehacker.com has a nice overview and video (with nasty music!) on the beta that was out last year… Windows seamlessly on your Mac Desktop.. Oh makes you feel dirty!!!

Technorati Tags: Apple, bootcamp, Coherence, geeking, Mac, operatingsystems, parallels, pc, technology, virtualisation, virtualmachines, vista, windows

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 at 6:15 pm and is filed under Geeking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.