As a paying customer, apart from having problems with just one of the betas (betas are betas so this isn't entirely unexpected) I have been perfectly satisfied with Parallels from my own needs in terms of why I have bought the software. I bought the software to cover my personal, and more importantly work needs, to have OSX at home but still work with XP and Windows Server where I need to. Parallels does this admirably, and with an important project I had recently where I had to do a lot of exchange of data between XP and OSX coherence was a life saver (my first impression was that it was just a gimmick). However, getting to the point, with their focus mostly on Windows, Parallels has managed to perform exceptionally well (beyond expectations? and IMO speedwise etc, much better than Fusion at the moment) why don't they just target that market? I am probably not alone in this community to be someone who does have an interest in other OSes (we're using OSX despite the fact that Windows supposedly owns the desktop on the PC). VMWare's Fusion (still in beta) has tools for Linux and Solaris, a much requested feature of Parallels but still with no sign of life yet despite many requests, just a vague "yes we are working on it". I even managed to get BeOS Max working in Fusion very easily which I had never managed in Parallels, and actually this is what prompted this post. I used BeOS for personal use exclusively for perhaps two years (at its peak on the X86 platform). Of course it is understandable that a more or less exctinct OS such as this isn't supported and I freely admit I wouldn't spend money just to have BeOS, but my point is it works in Fusion but not Parallels. Clearly this points out the strengths and weaknesses of the 2 VM solutions here. Again, why doesn't Parallels just drop everything else and just concentrate on being a Windows on Mac solution and leave the less lucrative alternative OS market for VMWare? Or is that promised support just around the corner? my 2 cents.
From where I see it they already have - even tho the 'less lucrative alternate OS market' is bigger than the mac market. Not withstanding of course the need for mac users to become more mainstream by running windoze. Parallels seems to have brought out their windoze/Linux product just to bankroll their mac product. They quit improving the windoze/Linux product about a year ago. I quit recommending it to my customers 6 months ago.
I tried out Fusion and did not like it as much as Parallels. I certainly hope that Parallels continues to support other OS besides Windows. I use Ubuntu Linux a lot, and would love for a future update to support 3d and Beryl. Dropping support for all OS other than Windows would be a bad move, and would probably end my business with Parallels.
I'm not a party to the plans of Parallels but not only do I not see them as having already dropped support for various OSs, I see no real reason to believe that they will do so. FWIW, my opinion is that they've made the very wise business decision of focussing on a VERY LARGE market of people who want to use Windows programs transparently on a Mac platform. That isn't to say that other OSs aren't important -- they certainly are to those who use them and that's a very significant market as well. But it is to suggest that part of the deployment trajectory they have planned may well be to support as fully as possible what they believe is their largest market/customer base first.
There have been no new features outside support for Windows for a very very long time.. one can remain an optimist for a while after which loses trust in the will to deliver.. At the moment I believe the next post in this very same forum as we "talk" is a post asking for "Tools for Linux"! Despite the fact the initial post is nearly a year ago there is no answer from anyone within Parallels. An answer one way or the other would clear things up I would think... Not very different to what I was saying, it would help us though if Parallels made it plain where they are heading, in particular now they are charging for their products (and doing well by all accounts?)
There is a post from Andrew in that thread stating that, as the TS of this thread said, they're working on it. No word on when it's being released. Here's the post: http://forum.parallels.com/post53035-47.html
Not quite sure how I missed that as I thought I had checked that thread a couple of times before I posted. Anyway, even though we don't have dates as such we at least know it's still on their radar...
hairy (love your nic lol) That is what they say, but all evidence, to this point, it to the contrary.
I am not a mac user but i don't understand why,if mac is so good, you need windows? Why run linux on a mac, why not use linux as the host and use windows in parallels, if needed? This forum, and all its subdivisions are full of posts about mac, even the one that is supposed to be for linux/windows! I use the latest versions of mepis and pclinux as host and vmware for the few things i need windows,as i find more open source apps, i need windows very rarely. don
I've been thinking about using Parallels to run Windows on Linux. Towards the end of March I e-mailed the following question to Ben. Given the continuing critical posts here about support on Linux and Windows, the lack of any substantive indication that there are developments regarding the Windows/Linux versions, and the recent announcement of Version 3 of Desktop--which makes "equality" seem very unlikely any time soon, I think I'll go with VMware. My Question: Ben's response:
I think you may mean the last senior member who has been posting actively here, esp about how "poorly" Parallels has been doing in some regard. I find them responsive, thorough and innovative -- clearly trying to integrate the varying demands of such an ambitious project and IMO doing a pretty good job of it. Yes, they have been more focussed on OSX as the host and for what are, again IMO, very good reasons. When they have said something would be done -- it was. I see no reason to believe differently about the trajectories of the various products.
I don't think they will drop other OSes than Windows. If they did, it would be a HUGE mistake simple gifting the market to Fusion. I'm a Developer and I need to run other Unix based OSes like various Linux distributions, as well as Solaris. Parallels can already be a pain in this sector and I strongly hope for improvement. I have already evaluated vmware but as it is still in beta it is not an option. If it was final, it would beat Parallels in this field already. So I hope for improvement during this year. If nothing happens, I'll be playing somewhere else.
