Make one multilingual version for all the world

Discussion in 'Feature Suggestions' started by oleb, Dec 14, 2006.

  1. oleb

    oleb Bit poster

    Messages:
    3
    Dear Parallels team,

    Now that you created such a wonderful product as Parallels Desktop for Mac, why not make your and your customers' lives a little easier by creating one unified multilingual version (as nearly all other Mac software vendors do) instead of one for each language.

    I am based in Germany and couldn't help but buy the German version of Parallels (local stores don't have the English version), only to find out that:
    1. you cannot switch between languages, nor does the software adapt to the language of the OS (my Mac OS is set to English);
    2. my product key is not valid for the English version of Parallels downloaded from your website;
    3. I cannot participate in testing the beta (only available in English) because the German product key is not valid.

    Only one question: why?
     
  2. tgrogan

    tgrogan Pro

    Messages:
    255
    Other (all???) mac software vendors ONLY cater to macs. Parallels runs on many host OSs, so that capability could be a full-time effort. Are there really that many languages where mac is common-place? I can understand them only targeting a few languages where there is an obvious market for a mac product. Sounds like you didn't read the box when you bought.

    Regardless, I bet if you asked them nicely, they would give you a key for your English language version. Don't think they had in mind to blind-side you for your purchase.
     
  3. oleb

    oleb Bit poster

    Messages:
    3
    You misunderstood my post, tgrogan. Sorry for not making myself clear. I don't care how many languages Parallels supports. In fact, I would be okay with having only an English version. I'm only asking for equal treatment of all customers, which is not present at the moment. When an update comes out, customers of the international retail versions have to wait weeks or months until the new version is published for their language. Their product key is not valid for the English version of the update.

    The box does not say anything about these facts. It doesn't promise me multiple languages or access to updates and beta versions, so in this regard you're right. On the other hand, it doesn't even tell me that this is a German version of the software. The text on the box is in German but the screenshots are of the English version. it doesn't say anything about this weird behavior.

    I asked them and no, they don't do that. They told me the only way is to purchase another copy of the US version. I don't know what they had in mind with their policy but if I had to guess I'd say it's some strange contractual arrangement with their international publishers.
     
  4. tgrogan

    tgrogan Pro

    Messages:
    255
    Humph.... You did get burned didn't you. Sorry.
     

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