Hi, I'm about to give up on Parallels and make a switch to Vmware! I love the newest version of Ubuntu, Debian, and RH but I can't seem to install either as a GUEST on the newest version of Parallels (having sound, networking, and at least 800x600 video res running) with Vista as Host. So my question if this: Is anyone able to do an install of ANY distro and ANY ver of linux (as guest) and get the sound, network, and at least 800x600 vid res running without doing any configuring? Thanks, B
From this thread: http://forums.parallels.com/thread3977.html Andrew clearly states the following on September 18th: "Please don't worry. We are working on Windows/Linux builds with a same efforts as on Mac ones. The upcoming Parallels Workstation 2.2 RC will have excatly the same feautures as Parallels Desktop update. Development of version 3.0 is going simultaneously for 3 platforms (Win/Lin/Mac) and will be released at the same time and with same functionality. IMHO because of adding Mac product to our product line our Win/Lin products will win in features and usability because we learn a lot during our work with Mac community." I have given up on any new builds of PD Linux or Windows. Clearly a 2.5 release never happened, and a 3.0 release isn't looking so good either.
Actually, if they hadn't have removed all previous posts in the forum re-org you would find such promises from almost a year ago. I personally lost a lot of time helping them get started with the Linux version only to be rewarded with total neglect for the past year. I could find no reason to recommend Parallels to anyone.
I see that you have only been around since 9 months ago. The promises were from before you have been participating. Many of us who used to wait for these promises no longer care. But, it's fun to chide those of you who continue to hope to get your money's worth out of your Parallels purchase.
Next generation code branch unified for Windows, Linux and Mac is still under development. It was scheduled for GA in Q1/2007, but was delayed and now is expected later this year. I apologize for such slip which occured because of very strong competition on Mac market and big efforts of Parallels Team in Mac product development. But Windows and Linux users also will highly benefit from this competition because a lot of new features and ideas which were implemented, tested and smoothed in Mac version and will be included into upcoming mutual Windows/Linux/Mac version. Do not be so severe to Paralles Team which works very hard and going to deliver really good products for Windows, Linux and Mac users.
While I can certainly understand the desire to be first to ship on MacOS X, I think the even without a 3.X upgrade, the Linux (and probably the Windows) users are being sold short. First of all, look at the version on the download page. It is a 7 month old build of 2.2 which will not even install cleanly on any distribution running kernel 2.6.19 or later, such as Ubuntu 7.04. Running PWS on Feisty requires a "special" build which is only mentioned in Forum posts, as opposed to being right out there on the Download page. To make matters worse, there is no direct link to the forums from the Support page or menu bar (a misplaced spam deterrent), so even finding out about the special build is problematic. Secondly, even without a 3.X update, Mac users already started at version 2.5. This begs the question of whether there are 2.X bug fixes and enhancements which Linux and Windows users have never seen. Finally, a lot has happened in the virtualization market since the release of 2.2. Of special interest are the release of VMware Player 2.0 and the open sourcing of innotek's VirtualBox. The VMware Player release is significant in that it adds a number of desirable features from the Workstation product including shared folders and 3D support. When combined with third party tools to create virtual machines (EasyVMX, VMX Builder), it becomes an attractive and free alternative, offering feature that PWS will not provide until 3.X. VirtualBox is interesting in a different way. The base product is Open Source and the enhanced version is free for personal use. The current version (1.4) is largely comparable to PWS 2.X and includes additional features such as tools for Linux guests and the ability to use VMware IDE disks. When Parallels entered the Windows and Linux markets, its only real competiton was VMware who, at the time, had no free products. The market was ripe for a low-cost virtualization solution for the casual user. Now the market offers viable no-cost alternatives. PWS 3.X, when it is released, will not be a free upgrade. It's major selling points will be price, 3D and Coherence support. In the meantime, the loyalty of current PWS users will be further tested as it will be nearly a year since the release of 2.2. I can only hope for your sake that the wait will be worth it.
jruschme, Thanks for such deep and exhaustive observations! We are going to officially release minor update of Parallels Workstation for Linux 2.2 very soon with compatibility fixes for latest Linux kernel versions. And we are going to compliment it with Linux guest tools (from latest PD 3.0). Major update 3.x is scheduled for late 2007 and in terms of feature set will be far ahead of PWL 2.2 and even PDM 3.0. I understand that we lost some ground with not updating Windows and Linux versions so long, but I really hope that we will catch up with this upcoming release and our Windows/Linux customers will be satisfied.
I wonder whether there will be any announcement of this 'upgrade' to registered users of 2.2. I personally gave up on Parallels ages ago due the complete absence of any development on the Windows/Linux front. But since I paid my money I expect to check out the so called enhancements to see whether there have been any major advances. Ray
