Parallels 3.0

[John the Geek]

Just to add to the rumors, I got an e-mail this morning from Parallels saying that 3.0 is less than a week away.

So Friday is definitely less than a week away.

I think that Parallels probably wants to pump out 3.0 before the WWDC confidence on Monday.

This is total speculation on my part, but I just have a feeling that is something going on with Apple and Parallels.

Ah, it was in my junk mail.

Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac is less than a week away from its official release.

Ok, that's good news. Why is that so hard to say?

 

[wingdo]

You say that there are a lot of bugs that were fixed so I'm assuming that you were involved with the Beta testing of 3.0. Is there a list of what has been fixed in version 3.0?

During the very public beta of 2.5, there were a large number of complaints in these forums. Complaints going anywhere from the fact many were unaware that they downloaded a piece of beta code vs the actually shipping older version. Complaints about no one knowing what they were supposed to be testing. Complaints about not knowing what has been fixed. Complaints about a total lack of documentation. Complaints about having all Parallels Desktop for Mac issues were thrown in to the same forum, making it hard to discern what is a problem with release code and what is a problem with beta code.

I am quite happy with the direction the developers have taken.

Whether one made it into the beta program or whether one applied and did not get in, or even if someone didn't even want to be bothered with flaky beta code ......... Everyone is much better served with the changes made with regards to how betas are being handled.

Of course if they still push out a buggy version just to hit some arbitrary deadline, all the positive changes will have no effect on the final outcome.

 

[tehnix]

Hi, I'm trying to figure out how this 3.0 pre-order thing works. I'm NOT a customer as of now. So if I purchase this pre-order will I get the full-version? Or do I have to already have purchased 2.5?

I keep reading mixed responses on this everywhere.

 

[macgebruiker]

Just to add to the rumors, I got an e-mail this morning from Parallels saying that 3.0 is less than a week away.
So Friday is definitely less than a week away.
I think that Parallels probably wants to pump out 3.0 before the WWDC confidence on Monday.
This is total speculation on my part, but I just have a feeling that is something going on with Apple and Parallels.

My invoice is Dutch but everybody will be able to decipher it. It clearly says "Delivery date: June 8 latest"!

 

[Devin]

Hi, I'm trying to figure out how this 3.0 pre-order thing works. I'm NOT a customer as of now. So if I purchase this pre-order will I get the full-version? Or do I have to already have purchased 2.5?

I keep reading mixed responses on this everywhere.

Hi Tehnix,

My understanding is that the $39.99 pre-order is an upgrade only available to current users. Furthermore, after launch, the price will be changed back to the normal upgrade price of $49.99.

The full version is $79.99 I believe. The prior version did have a deal for new users during pre-order - I have yet to hear if there is something similar for version 3.

Hope this helps. You may have best luck just calling parallels.

Take care.

 

[Sonderpa]

My invoice is Dutch but everybody will be able to decipher it. It clearly says "Delivery date: June 8 latest"!

My invoice says clearly: June 3 latest.
This day has been passed already, but I haven't received 3.0 yet.

 

[justflybob]

You guys crack me up... You act as if $39.95 is some huge price to pay. I'd lay odds that the majority of the people complaining about the upgrade price blew more than that on beer for the Memorial day weekend and we all know where used beer goes! M

I truly am saddened that you feel that way. $40 is still $40 bucks. And if I were a college student living paycheck to paycheck, with a very small ceiling left on my VISA, I would sure as hell want to know if the $40 was locked up or not.

Also, please note that I clearly stated that my "warning" were for those that the "pre-authorization" would possibly cause a problem.

BTW, if $40 is no big deal to you, I would bet that several less fortunate forum members would gladly let you buy their upgrade for them!

 

[cynic]

Honestly, I do not see any problem with the upgrade price.
In my opinion you do not really have a point with the student example. What about the developers and other people involved. I'm pretty sure they'd also like to get paid for the work they have done. Making major updates to software re-payable is very common.
When applying your point I, one could write to Apple and say... goddamn I already bought OS X why the heck do I have to pay again for Leopard... it's just an update.

 

[MarkHolbrook]

I truly am saddened that you feel that way. $40 is still $40 bucks. And if I were a college student living paycheck to paycheck, with a very small ceiling left on my VISA, I would sure as hell want to know if the $40 was locked up or not.

Also, please note that I clearly stated that my "warning" were for those that the "pre-authorization" would possibly cause a problem.

BTW, if $40 is no big deal to you, I would bet that several less fortunate forum members would gladly let you buy their upgrade for them!

Hum... Lets see... You are typing this on some kinda Mac which you probably scarfed up "thousands" to buy. Perhaps it was a gift... this I cannot know. Along comes a piece of software that allows you to run windows and you get an upgrade offer to it for $40.00 and you cringe at the price...

You probably paid 50 or more times that price to purchase your Mac... For some reason this math does not make sense to me... $40 compared to thousands for added horsepower...

As far as being "less fortunate" that is a matter of effort... I have been working the computer field since the early days of the Apple II. In fact I sold Apple IIs and later IBM PCs for straight commission in the 80's... Those were tough times... I've worked to get where I am and yes $40 is $40 but in my book when I look at $98 for XP OEM, $300 for MS Office Pro, $500 for Photoshop. $3995+ for a seat of Solidworks. Even MathCad is $79.95 on upgrade. Mathematica... Close to $795 I really don't understand people complaining about a $39.95 upgrade.

Let's just agree to disagree.

 

[Horizontal]

Well I won't be buying version 3.0, Parallels can dance around the promised 1 year upgrade issue as much as they like, but nowhere did I see a distinction in the commitment between point updates and upgrades when I purchased Parallels.

This software is still in it's development stages and not yet 99% reliable. I feel ripped off and cheated and all the sooth-saying Parallels is making has not made it any better. I will wait to see what Apple pulls out of it's hat with Leopard or go with VM.

 

[snodman]

They posted the version 3 final this afternoon. It is available to download now. Still waiting for my key, though.

 

[John the Geek]

but nowhere did I see a distinction in the commitment between point updates and upgrades when I purchased Parallels.

This software is still in it's development stages and not yet 99% reliable. I feel ripped off and cheated and all the sooth-saying Parallels is making has not made it any better. I will wait to see what Apple pulls out of it's hat with Leopard or go with VM.

Upgrades cost money. I hate to break it to you, but Leopard will cost money too. The "point" upgrades are free, but the major upgrades are not. Sound familiar?



Yep, it's true. There is no Santa Clause either. And I'm going to estimate Leopard will cost about $129.00. A far cry from $40/$50.

Either you have the year of free upgrades (you'd have known when you bought it) or you don't. Parallels isn't going to dance around anything.

 

[twynne]

They posted the version 3 final this afternoon. It is available to download now. Still waiting for my key, though.

Use the key in the [misleading] confirmation email from when you ordered the upgrade.

 

[Horizontal]

Upgrades cost money. I hate to break it to you, but Leopard will cost money too. The "point" upgrades are free, but the major upgrades are not. Sound familiar?



Yep, it's true. There is no Santa Clause either. And I'm going to estimate Leopard will cost about $129.00. A far cry from $40/$50.

Either you have the year of free upgrades (you'd have known when you bought it) or you don't. Parallels isn't going to dance around anything.

Considering this from Parallels:-

This copy includes free Upgrade Protection for one year following the date of
purchase, which entitles you to receive all major upgrades released during that
timeframe at no additional cost. When a new major version is released, you will
receive an email to the address you used to register the product that includes
instructions on how to download and install the new version, and a permanent
activation key that is compatible with the new version.

I bought it under this pretext. $40 or $50??? I never received an email from Parallels inviting me to upgrade under that price or advising me of anything.

I have emailed Parallels of course to question all of this, but no reply. I feel as though I have been beta testing a version thinly disguised as a version 2.5 and now am expected to buy again within 6 months.

Sorry but I don't fall prey to this kind of marketing malarky.

 

[snodman]

I bought last December during the Free Upgrades for a Year promotion, so I'm still waiting. But at least I didn't have to shell out another $40 this time.

 

[justflybob]

Hum... Lets see... You are typing this on some kinda Mac which you probably scarfed up "thousands" to buy. Perhaps it was a gift... this I cannot know. Along comes a piece of software that allows you to run windows and you get an upgrade offer to it for $40.00 and you cringe at the price...

You probably paid 50 or more times that price to purchase your Mac... For some reason this math does not make sense to me... $40 compared to thousands for added horsepower...

As far as being "less fortunate" that is a matter of effort... I have been working the computer field since the early days of the Apple II. In fact I sold Apple IIs and later IBM PCs for straight commission in the 80's... Those were tough times... I've worked to get where I am and yes $40 is $40 but in my book when I look at $98 for XP OEM, $300 for MS Office Pro, $500 for Photoshop. $3995+ for a seat of Solidworks. Even MathCad is $79.95 on upgrade. Mathematica... Close to $795 I really don't understand people complaining about a $39.95 upgrade.

Let's just agree to disagree.

My entire ORGINAL point was about the credit card being charged the $40 after they clearly stated that they would do no such thing.

$40 is cheap to both you and me. But it can be a lot to someone who believes the hype that there card isn't going to be charged the second they hit the pre-order button.

That's my only point I was trying to make.

You, and others here, have basically turned it into a disagreement about PRICE.

That was never my issue.

 

[flightvector]

No Upgrade Email

Hmm, I ordered Parallels during the December free upgrade promotion, and received the confirmation "Getting Started with Parallels Desktop for Mac" email that says:

"This copy includes free Upgrade Protection for one year following the date of purchase, which entitles you to receive all major upgrades released during that timeframe at no additional cost."

No word yet on any free activation for Parallels 3.0 for me, and it's definitely not in my junk folder. Anyone else still in my boat??

 

[jvgfanatic]

Hmm, I ordered Parallels during the December free upgrade promotion, and received the confirmation "Getting Started with Parallels Desktop for Mac" email that says:

"This copy includes free Upgrade Protection for one year following the date of purchase, which entitles you to receive all major upgrades released during that timeframe at no additional cost."

No word yet on any free activation for Parallels 3.0 for me, and it's definitely not in my junk folder. Anyone else still in my boat??

I wrote support on this issue and they replied that I should get a key when 3.0 is released. Of course how long I'll have to wait to see that...who knows?

You can get a trial key and just use that, be SURE to back up your VMs though should anything go haywire with you getting a real key.

 

[MarkHolbrook]

My entire ORGINAL point was about the credit card being charged the $40 after they clearly stated that they would do no such thing.

$40 is cheap to both you and me. But it can be a lot to someone who believes the hype that there card isn't going to be charged the second they hit the pre-order button.

That's my only point I was trying to make.

You, and others here, have basically turned it into a disagreement about PRICE.

That was never my issue.

Ok my fault... I didn't realize that was your original issue. There are many posts in this thread and its easy to get side tracked on an issue.

I agree completely that they should be honest about are we gonna charge your CC or not. It has been my experience that they almost always do when dealing with web orders. However it could simply be that someone at parallels who posted the email said something that simply was not true by mistake... ie they believed that charging would happen later when the order company never planned that. No idea...

One nice thing about CC payments is you can dispute them if you want. So if your Parallels 3.0 upgrade doesn't arrive, call your CC company and complain.

M

 

[justflybob]

Ok my fault... I didn't realize that was your original issue. There are many posts in this thread and its easy to get side tracked on an issue.

I agree completely that they should be honest about are we gonna charge your CC or not. It has been my experience that they almost always do when dealing with web orders. However it could simply be that someone at parallels who posted the email said something that simply was not true by mistake... ie they believed that charging would happen later when the order company never planned that. No idea...

One nice thing about CC payments is you can dispute them if you want. So if your Parallels 3.0 upgrade doesn't arrive, call your CC company and complain.

M

No problem, Mark. I probably seem a little testy as I was the one who found the damn link in the first place and had to beat Nova Development over the head with screenshots before they believed me! The customer service person kept telling me the upgrade wasn't out yet, even though I'm staring at it on my screen. Unreal.

If I don't get the key tomorrow, I am filing a dispute. Then I'll go over to Digital River or some other respectable SW vendor and purchase again.

Ridiculous...