Parallels today announced that its Parallels Desktop for Mac has sold more than one million copies. The award-winning software is the first product ever to enable Mac users to run Windows, Linux or any other operating system and their critical applications at the same time as Mac OS X on any Intel-powered Apple computer.
Parallels Desktop for Mac’s success has quickly made Parallels the No. 1 company in desktop virtualization. Today, the software is available in 10 languages — Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, and Spanish.
“Parallels Desktop not only broke down the barrier between the Mac and PC worlds, it also broke down the barrier that kept desktop virtualization from becoming a mainstream technology for consumers and professional users” said Serguei Beloussov, CEO of Parallels, in the press release. “We will continue innovating to extend our position as the desktop virtualization leader and provide our users with the fastest, easiest and most seamless solution available.”
Since its launch in June 2006, Parallels Desktop for Mac has been recognized with more than 30 major industry awards, including: MacWorld Magazine’s “Editor’s Choice” Award (the “Eddy”), PC World Magazine’s “Innovation of the Year” Award, “Best in Show” at the 2007 MacWorld Expo and at the 2007 London MacLiveExpo, BBC News “Best Tech,” and InfoWorld 2008 “Technology of the Year.”
“Parallels Desktop for Mac fundamentally shifted the Apple strategy from monolithic to multiplatform. It empowers Mac users with a new level of flexibility and gave them access to enterprise applications that were previously out of reach,” said Frank J. Bernhard, managing principal and technology economist with OMNI Consulting Group, in the press release. “The ability to operate business applications with complete transparency between the Windows and Mac platforms via Parallels Desktop is the coup that Macintosh users have been enjoying since the evolution of Intel architecture, and is one of the main catalysts behind enterprise Mac adoption.”
Currently, Parallels Desktop for Mac is in its third generation and is the world’s No. 1 selling Mac System Utility. The product has introduced a string of industry firsts and innovative features:
• SmartSelect is a Parallels-exclusive feature that allows users to open any file from Windows or OS X with any program from either operating system. This feature provides the most integrated experience possible.
• Coherence is a Parallels-first feature that enables users to run Windows applications just like they were native Mac applications. When a Windows application runs in Coherence, only the Windows application is visible, providing a completely seamless user experience. Windows applications can be launched from the Mac dock, and individual Windows applications windows work with OS X’s “Expose” feature.
• Parallels Transporter is a free migration tool, bundled with every copy of Parallels Desktop for Mac, that helps users migrate entire Windows or Linux PCs — including the operating system, settings and software applications — to Parallels virtual machines in minutes without losing data. This tool is key for those switching from PCs to a Mac.
• Parallels Desktop for Mac was also the first virtualization solution to offer support for DirectX and OpenGL 3D graphics.
A complete overview of features and functions is available here.
Fusion is hands down a much better product!
Parallels is, hands down, a much better product than Fusion. (See how easy that was?)
Parallels is a horrible product. Doesn’t even work when trying to print to USB printers. Avoid Parallels!
Have to agree. Fusion is vastly superior. I tried using Parallels, but had too many problems to make it reliable enough for business use. so far no problems with fusion at all.
My USB printers work fine.
@AppleMan,
Why?
I use Parallels for over a years now and never had any problems with it.
I run Windows XP und SuSE Linux 10 and my usb printer, usb scanner, digicam, Palm Lifedrive etc. work just fine.
I use Microsoft Access, Corel Draw Suite under windows XP and do my home banking and secured internet surfing under two different Linux VMs.
Speed is marvelous, startup and shutdown a snap.
I can only recomend ist!
I’ve used both, and Fusion is definitely NOT a better product hands down by any stretch. Both clearly have their advantages and disadvantages, but in the end, they’re both pretty much comparable to each other. I’ve never understood all of the Fusion fanboyism that goes on, because Fusion and Parallels are basically the same thing when it comes right down to it.
k, this press release is damn near lying in places.
Parallels is an ok product as of v2.5 (at that point Fusion Beta was better so I switched to that, don’t know what improvements have been made in Parallels since then). It started it’s existance with mac on intel chips, and though it targets individuals instead of companies it’s not the first to sell to them.
VMWare has been around for a long time, selling their product to individuals and IT departments alike. Their product is multi-platform (Windows, Linux or OSX can be the host OS) and their Fusion Beta had better stability then Parallels and lower host impact (running XP installed the same on both, Parallels 2.5 would cause the host OS to hang, sometimes as long as a minute, while XP booted and such, Fusion Beta never did, and overall performance seemed faster).
Parallels has helped by getting VMWare to lower their prices (started out way-back-when at about $100 per license, then jumped to $300, now is $80, all because of the competition) and for that I like them, but I prefer to do my work on Fusion.
good for Parallels, but I am saddened that 1m people think they need to run crappy MS Windows. what a bummer.
Both are good products, but Fusion has (almost) transparent capabilities between VMware Workstation for PCs and Fusion. Only thing you have to do when using a VM that was created on the PC side is install Fusion Tools when migrating over to the Mac. VMware is the most widely used solution of its kind in the world so this makes it stand out a bit. I also believe it’s a bit faster and can use both cores.
Using both cores is a highly overrated feature though. All that manages to do is dramatically slow down the host OS (Mac OS X) when the guest OS (Windows) is hogging both CPU cores. You would rather that it didn’t use both cores actually, that way Mac OS X can run on one core while the guest OS runs on the other.
Fusion is more tailored for the following:
SMP support
64-bit Support
Wider Linux support.
Parallels is more designed for the following:
Use with Laptops (less a drain on battery)
OSX and Windows integration capabilities
SmartSelect for applications pairing
Fusion works well, but doesn’t integrate with the host OS seamlessly. That’s why it works for the tech crowd.
Parallels works for the end user much better because it does seamless integration of both desktops.
My reason is Parallels is a pile of CRAP when it comes to USB devices recognition. You had to buy an entirely new copy once Leopard came out. Parallels CANNOT recognize the existing boot camp partition (requiring HOURS of re-installation of OS and software). I could continue on, but Parallels SUCKS so much I would be posting the rest of the day!! Oh, and Fusion is less expensive too!
Thank you, brainee28, for your cogent yet concise answer!
Never tried VM, but I think highly of the Parallels I use at the office for things like web testing, remote SQL Enterprise Manager and Solid Works CAD. At home I use it for SolidWorks and PC games. I don’t need Windows, I just need some the Windows-only apps. Parallels works fine for me.
AppleMan: Parallels CANNOT recognize the existing boot camp partition (requiring HOURS of re-installation of OS and software).
That is incorrect as far as I know (I don’t have a need for BootCamp).