“For the last few months, we’ve been quietly building and testing an entirely new version of Parallels Desktop for Mac. Named Desktop for Mac 3.0, this forthcoming major update – due in a few weeks – has over 50 great new features,” Ben Rudolph blogs for Parallels.
Rudolph writes, “Since we’re still in beta testing I won’t go into all of them, but I did want to highlight two of them.”
SmartSelect: A wicked cool new feature that lets you assign any OS X or Windows application as the default for any Mac or Windows file type. This means that when you right-click on any file in either OS and selects “open with”, SmartSelect automatically populates the recommended application list with compatible applications from both operating systems.
With SmartSelect, I set Word for Windows to be my default application to work with .doc, .rtf and .txt files, so when I double click a file with that extension in either OS – even if it is an email attachment in Apple Mail – the file instantly opens the file in Word. I’ve also configure SmartSelect to open all hyperlinks clicked in either OS to open in Firefox for Mac, and for all email to route through Apple Mail. This is total OS integration on a file and application level…put it together with Coherence, and you have the most seamless user experience possible.
3D Graphics: You asked for it, and we delivered. Kick around your favorite Windows-only OpenGL and DirectX games and apps in a virtual machine on your Mac, without shutting down OS X!
Rudolph writes, “There’s a lot more (as in, more than 50 new features in all) in 3.0. The new version will be available in just a few weeks at the regular price of $79.99, but current users can upgrade for only $49.99. And, now through the release date (very soon…), you can actually upgrade for only $39.99, which, for those of you who aren’t math savvy (like me), is 1/2 the regular retail price. We’re doing this as a formal thank-you to everyone who’s supported us over the past year.”
“Stay tuned for news about the final release of 3.0 in the next few weeks,” Rudolph writes. “Oh, and I’ll see you all at WWDC, where we’ll have more big news for you.”
Full article here.