Add my voice to the legions of very, VERY unhappy customers who find this practice both sleazy and unprofessional. My desktop is not yours to abuse with "helpful" ads, nor is it your place to decide whether I find them "helpful" or not. Until the ads go, I'm not paying for an upgrade on this product again. As for receiving a special, secret, don't-tell-anyone-or-they'll-turn-off-the-ads private message, don't bother. Parallels upset enough users to make the fix an openly-circulated item on Twitter and App.net. A simple Google search reveals the answer in the first five results.
I have also contacted the authors of 1Password to let them know their product is being advertised in such a distasteful fashion. I'm one of their customers as well, and when you aggravate your users, you also aggravate the users of several other products. Many of the companies that make those products WILL listen to the negative feedback, and will be less likely to enter into agreements with Parallels in the future. That's something else to consider the next time Parallels convinces itself that this practice is somehow benign and acceptable.
An intelligent, ethical solution to the problem would be to cease this behavior, but I think it's safe to assume after years of aggressive neglect that Parallels won't change its ways. And I have no interest in giving my money to a such a company when so many alternatives are available.
