Feature request: place VMs in bundles

Discussion in 'Parallels Desktop for Mac' started by drtimhill, May 3, 2006.

  1. drtimhill

    drtimhill Member

    Messages:
    85
    This is a pretty minor feature request, but I think it would be nice to have.

    A couple of other emulators/vms I've seen on the Mac place all the files for a VM (HDD image, configuration settings etc.) inside a Mac bundle/package, rather than in a folder the way parallels currently does.

    I realize you guys are cross-platform and this doesn't work for Windows/Linux hosts, but on the Mac this is certainly a more convenient packaging method, as it makes the VM look like a single managed unit ("file") under the Finder.

    File this one under "nice to have" ? :)

    --Tim
     
  2. Andrew @ Parallels

    Andrew @ Parallels Parallels Team

    Messages:
    1,507
    Thanks for suggesting - we'll consider this idea.
     
  3. Thunder

    Thunder Bit poster

    Messages:
    1
    Actually, I think this is much more than a "nice to have" type of suggestion. I'd say it's more of a "must have."

    Reasons:

    - You could double-click a VM in the Finder to open it, if it were a bundled document.
    - Reduces the "fragility" of a VM greatly. It's far too easy to inadvertently break a VM right now, simply by moving or otherwise modifying one of the files in a VM's folder.
    - Makes it easier to copy or backup a VM in the Finder, as a bundled document could have its own icon, and appear as any other document.
    - It's the right way to package something like a VM on the Mac OS.

    I'm probably forgetting a few, and I may not be fully aware of any cross-platform issues, but my opinion is that it's a must-do-before-ship.

    Meanwhile, at the pace this product is evolving, it may only take the developers a couple of hours to do...

    Evan Gross
    Author, Spell Catcher X
    (Mac software developer since 1984)
     
  4. tacit_one

    tacit_one Pro

    Messages:
    434
    Document binding for *.pvs files for Finder is already presented since beta6 - it is already possible to "click" on your vm configuration (sure not a bundle, but useful)
     

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