IMHO, the design of the Parallels web site is really bad when it comes to purchasing an upgrade. I accidentally purchased the english version of Parallels desktop instead of the german one, because I went to http://www.parallels.com and clicked on the "Upgrade" link. The next page which appears contains no indication at all that there is a difference between localized versions, and that you are going to purchase the english version. It lets you select the language, but that's only the language of the text displayed. I proceeded and received an order confirmation which again didn't contain any indication that I purchased the english version. Only after registering the upgrade key, the registration page showed what I had received. And of course, the upgrade key doesn't work - with the english version of Parallels desktop, it is not accepted because I had a german Parallels Desktop 3; with the german version, it doesn't accept the upgrade key.
Only when I go to http://www.parallels.de, the web site lets me select between upgrades for the german and the english version.
Why can't I purchase a different localized version on the main site of Parallels? And why don't the different sites of Parallels offer all localized versions? Didn't it occur to Parallels' marketing people that someone residing in Germany might want to purchase an italian version because it's his/her native language? I think this is an example of really bad web site design.
And why is there even a difference between version keys for different localizations at all? This doesn't make sense to me at all. There's plenty of other software which is capable of switching between languages at runtime, with "language packs" containing the strings shown in the user interface - this isn't rocket science at all. Please consider moving to include such a feature in future versions. It will help avoid a lot of problems with upgrades.
It's been a week since I contacted Parallels support, hoping that they might send me a key for the german version - no answer yet. :-( I am actually considering to move to another virtualization product just because of this mess.
Best regards,
Joachim Geidel
Only when I go to http://www.parallels.de, the web site lets me select between upgrades for the german and the english version.
Why can't I purchase a different localized version on the main site of Parallels? And why don't the different sites of Parallels offer all localized versions? Didn't it occur to Parallels' marketing people that someone residing in Germany might want to purchase an italian version because it's his/her native language? I think this is an example of really bad web site design.
And why is there even a difference between version keys for different localizations at all? This doesn't make sense to me at all. There's plenty of other software which is capable of switching between languages at runtime, with "language packs" containing the strings shown in the user interface - this isn't rocket science at all. Please consider moving to include such a feature in future versions. It will help avoid a lot of problems with upgrades.
It's been a week since I contacted Parallels support, hoping that they might send me a key for the german version - no answer yet. :-( I am actually considering to move to another virtualization product just because of this mess.
Best regards,
Joachim Geidel
