Parallels 3.0

im sure a public preview will be available when this version is released, only a few days to go i suspect.

 

I updated yesterday my license to latest v3 and I was expecting a link to download this pre-release or to get more info as licensed user but nothing happened.

I hope to get it as soon as possible, of course according to the developers' roadmap. Anyway does the team can give us the working status?



Thanks,

 

sorry to burst your bubble Vinneh, but the release notes are available to read on quite a few websites.

 

Their marketing acumen and the emails and press releases are somewhat poor. But we did get v2.0 upgraded for free on this basis no problem. I don't see any reason to think they will reneg on their 1 year free upgrades policy for v3.0.

People need to be patient since their marketing words are so poorly chosen. 3.0 isn't available yet, worry about your free upgrade when it is.

 

Oh, please!

You're kidding me, right? Right?

May I quote you from the very marketing material that arrived at my door?

"Hurry! Call 1-800=395-6682 or visit us at www.parallelsupgrade.com to lock-in your $39.99 price. Upgrade now, and you won't be charged until your order ships."

Where, oh where, in that phrase are the words "pre-authorization."

Better yet, on the pre-order page itself, once you click on the pre-order button you get "...Your credit card will not be charged until the product ships in June."

Nowhere in the pre-order process do the words "pre-authorization" appear.

Sorry, but that is rather deceptive in my book. My words of warning where not directed at bashing Parallels. It was simply to inform those that might be unfamiliar with the method Parallels chose to take.

So, to answer your question. Yes, I have booked a hotel room once or twice in my life. Since I somehow managed to travel the world for 10+ years doing sales and marketng, I suppose it was necessary from time to time.

My question to you is, have you ever been around enough to realize that "pre-authorization" isn't always "standard practice" at all? Order something from CDW (the owners of MacWarehouse) and see if they charge your card before the product ships.

 

I agree that it sucks (pre-authorization). Truly. These days money in an account one week is no indicaiton of what the weather will be like next week (or as is often the case next month) and this hold on funds serves no practical purpose. The hold itself is the mechanics of the card company and not Parallels, that Parallels could have seen this kind of thing coming and been able to work with a different charge mechanism, well, isn't that kind of a marketing thing?

That you are surprised by it is quite surprising. I do admire companies that do not pre-authorize but they are few and far between these days. Nice to be reminded that CDW doesn't practice it.

 

Thank you Tim!

This PM was sent to me.

Hello,

No need to worry here. We haven't changed a single line of code that handles keyboard and mouse in 3.0. All the code is taken from 2.5. So, if the previous version works for you, the next one will do as well.

Best regards,
Tim

 

You say it doesn't mean anything, but, so far as I can tell you also say that because of what is seen the thing should run just about all directX 9 games, all be it at varying levels of speed.
Am I getting this wrong then? Will the card just run directX 9 games Y/N?

So far as I could figure if a game says it needs say directX 9c to run, and it runs, you're pretty much good.

If the only thing that actually requires compliancy is Aero I'd say consider yourself lucky. Aero is just bad fake aqua for a 10-20% performance hit. We gots da REAL aqua!

Really? Release notes? Where would i find these notes? I looked quite dilligently earlier but was only able to get info by collecting inferences from the aforementioned email.

Can you drop a URL perhaps? Also might these release notes have more data on the direct X compatibility? It would be real nice to know what the thing actually is before buying it.

 

from Bens blog:

"When we go live, we will continue our policy of offering a free 15-day fully functional trial, so you'll be able to try before you buy. And, we're always open to ideas to improve, so keep the feedback coming and we'll figure out a way to make the next round of beta testing even better."

 

Well it looks like that our little Parallels is growing up right before our eyes. This is a very touching moment!

 

$40 for new users too?

Okay, the email says $40 is 50% off....
but the upgrade price is $50 (not $80 which is new).

Can I buy a full version for $40 at this point?
I haven't bought my Intel Mac yet... but I will be shortly.

Thanks
Greg
ps. My mother and brother are very pleased with Parallels v2
pps ... I'm not sure I need Windows at all... hmmm

 

I am for one totally looking forward to the update. I hooked up a second monitor to my mac pro, and now I have os/x on one screen and windows xp on the other, and I can move the mouse back and fourth, now that is totally sweet. Just imagine being able to play 3d games. This will be the ultimate server, mac pro is awesome! I dont think a pc computer can do that. Trust me I was a pc gamer for over 10 years, and I am totally converted to apple products. Save the gaming for a 360 or ps3.

Mo!

 

A few people have questioned whether the June 6 deadline for the discount is because Apple is about to release something themselves... which I personally doubt.

However... VMWare might release their product in a few days.
The only advantage VMWare seemed to have was using both processor cores.

Anyone know if Parallels v3 will use both cores?

 

Sure you can upgrade now if you want. However just remember, that you'll need an Intel Mac to run Parallels.

 

Whining and Complaining

Parallels is a great product. It's a $40 upgrade folks. Not $400.00. Stop and realize that you are now able to run Windows on your Mac. I remember the days (not so long ago) that this was a far fetched idea. Appreciate the product. If you don't want to upgrade, then don't. Your current version 2.5.x will keep working. It isn't going to expire. Go spend your $40.00 somewhere else. Many thanks to the folks at Parallels.

 

Sorry Steve - not sure if you've answered my question.

I want to buy a full version, NOT upgrade. Since they say 50% off, does that mean I can buy a full version for $40?

 

FWIW I got a postcard in the snailmail with the following http://www.parallelsupgrade.com/ or call 1-800-395-6682 It says it is a "Pre-order Upgrade Offer, Expires in 10 Days" & "Once this offer ends, Version 3.0 will be back to $79.99." It also says "Ships in June" & does not specify a date when the offer will end but 6-June seems reasonable. I hope this helps. PS: It was sent by Nova Development 23801 Calabasas Rd. Calabasas, CA 91302. I hope this helps. I just upgraded.

 

Of course you'll get a full version. There is no space for interpretations in the advertising message "Save 50%"
50% of what ??? If I'll buy something 50% off, it will not shape up as an update, because that will be 20% off

 

Ahh, semantics, semantics. 50% off the full version price in order to upgrade. The e-mail was sent only to the existing customers, I would think, so those who were thinking of buying one outright would still need to pay the full $80, while those who already use 2.5 would get the new full version 3.0, for half off the full price.

It's not so hard to grasp, folks. Think about upgrading Windows. A whole new version means you're sort of buying a new, different product. Existing customers get a discount (upgrade pricing) to get this different product. Not considering all that OEM/ODM thingy, the only other way you can get this new version legally is to pay the whole price. So any price differential existing between these two options could be said as 'XX% off'.

So for a limited time until June 6, full version of Parallels 3.0 is being offered at 50% off the full price for existing customers. After that, it'll only be 37.5% off.

 

If the game requires DirectX 9 features and does not offer any fallback to older set of features, and the graphics card is not DirectX 9 compliant, then the game will not run. This is apparently the case with Vista Aero and some high-end graphics demos. Most games aren't this dumb, of course, because it needs to sell and thus needs to cover as much bases as possible. Hence, a game that touts itself to be a 'DirectX 9' game will still likely run even in absense of DirectX 9 compliant hardware.

I'm saying 'it doesn't mean anything' in the sense that we don't know if the full DirectX 9 compliant featureset will be supported inside Parallels VM even with this info. That's all.