New Parallels bundle aims to ease switch from PC to Mac - Page 2

Whether or not VM software is useful for conversion, I don't see how it couldn't be. It makes a transition from Windows to Mac 'possible' without having to re-invest in new software. After a time it's natural for someone to look for Mac specific software, but it gives them a cushion (both in comfort level and cost) to make the transition.

I actually tested both for my configuration. I use a virtual laptop image on my Mac (XP SP3). Everything worked fine in both Parallels and VMWare except for the IP Phone (USB base/Bluetooth headset, standard VOIP protocols). It wouldn't stream audio properly under Parallels. All hiccups, dropped sentences, and frustration.

Unfortunately I spend a lot of time on the phone so that was a deal breaker for me. I'm not interested in absolute cutting edge speed at the cost of reliability. I also like the industry standard for VMWare for virtual appliances. Images work regardless of the OS hosting the virtual machine.

For most home users, Parallels will be fine, but it's odd that folks are so focused on the performance bit. If someone has an app that is that performance oriented, I can't imagine they wouldn't simply reboot into Boot Camp anyway. For basic work, I just use things like Outlook, Office, and Admin Tools, all of which run pretty much the same between both.

Yep you are correct!

Will do! Thx

I would disagree this was the death knell of OS/2. The death of OS/2 was much more complicated than can be attributed to a single factor, but, I think the the most important factor was MS effectively crippling it while working to bring Windows to the market to undermine it. (OS/2, for those who don't recall or never knew, was, initially, developed jointly by IBM and MS.) If it hadn't been sabotaged, and already mortally wounded by MS, seamlessly running Windows programs wouldn't even have been something that would have been attempted.

Too bad, in a way, there were some very nice features in the Workplace Shell, like documents that knew how to print themselves without launching the App, that were quite advanced at the time. OS/2 2.0 and later versions certainly had much more to offer than Windows at the time, but MS was very effective in cutting off oxygen to it. It was also, at the time, more advanced than Mac OS in many regards, although, the UI was not as polished, to be sure.

I largely agree with other posters who assert that the main point of Parallels/Fusion/<other product> is to a) make a Mac acceptable to management, and b) allow a user to run a few critical (often enterprise) apps that are Windows only. But, it does also allow you to not have to replace all your software immediately on switching to a Mac, which would be a large expense for many, but can be relatively painless spread out over time.

My $.02, I was a Parallels user since 2.0, upgraded to 3.0, but had a lot of issues with 4.0 that were never worked out. I tried Virtual Box when it was first released and had some issues there. I was under a deadline and couldn't wait for updates to Virtual Box so I jumped ship to VMware. It's works great, as advertised. To me it was worth spending a little extra $ to get the job done. Would I go back to Parallels? No. Their support response time became very slow and never addressed my issues (most of them were with USB and Palm syncing support).

Something always strikes me odd about how much energy is spent to get Windows running on a Mac.

Also equally as odd is the fact that the majority of people that I've come in contact with who buy a Mac, also buy Parallels AND Windows to run on their mac. Take a 1500 computer and add on top of that roughly another 150 bucks, just to run the "evil" OS, hits me in the funny bone. When in Windows, you still get your same issues! (And sometimes even more since we are in a virtualized arena. Note: Specific 3D programs are supported.)

At least people should save the money for Parallels and use boot camp, that way they unlock ALL of the computing power to Windows. If not that, then at least use Virtual Box. I use it, and it works well. I like supporting open-source and cross-platform softwares.

Just confuses me sometimes. People want to get away, but they just can't. They get a Mac and still run Windows.

I'm all for moving away from MS. Gotta talk to the developers of third party software I guess...

That's like saying that you won't fly in an airplane until you see a headline in the paper, "Plane lands safely." Actually, that's the day to stop flying!

It's true that people discuss problems in the Mac forum. It's also true that people discuss ways of getting it to work right in the Windows forums. That's because problems are the exception on the Mac and the rule on Windows.

This is what makes me question the intelligence and even the sanity of the corporate leaders at Microsoft. Why are they advertising how chintzy and cheap their hardware partners are? Microsoft doesn't make computers, so why do they care what hardware it runs on? It seems to me that we should be seeing a laptop switchers ad where the salesman discovers that the customer truly needs a high-end Mac, but needs Windows to play games. So he sells the customer Windows Ultimate to install in Boot Camp. Why doesn't Microsoft advertise Windows as the perfect accessory to a Mac?

Either they are too stupid to think of it or they don't want their customers comparing Windows and OS X on their desktops. Hm.

Isn't any windows OS being crippled just a given??

(sorry, I just had to rib being that your post set it up so nicely!)

I think I'll start doing that. I'm tired of ignorant people not understanding that people don't complain about their computer (to you, your sister, or online) if it works like it should. he people that do make a stink are in the .1% yes thats "point one percent"
We've had many a computer at our print shop. The old ones die and you get a cheap replacement (pc for single process computing), but this G5 Tower that I'm typing on is 4 years old, faster than my Macbook and NEVER had a single problem. This things just keeps getting FASTER with ever new OS (Sadly Leopard will be it's last).

PC's have their purpose (anything not requiring you to use it and operate within it's gui, like processing files to be imposed to a aluminum plate) Macs are for end users. PCs (as they are) were never meant to be a consumer device.

And that's why most people are ignorant or naive.

hmm I'm sure ballmer is too busy doing coke to read this forum, but if he ever read your idea, he'd steal it from you and do a campaign...it's quite brilliant

For al_bundy who wants a Mac forum with only unicorns and rainbows and bunnies: My MacBook Pro works great. Sure, I know, the lid is crooked. It wasn't delivered that way, that's my own craftsmanship. I dropped it from the kitchen table onto the floor once, and another time I dropped it onto the concrete floor at the office, but everything works perfectly! It's compatible with Active Directory, and even though I'm the guy in charge of the Windows help desk, I secretly use it at the office all day. The display is great, the sound quality is astonishing, the touch pad is wonderful, and my fingers fly over the keyboard with accuracy and ease. No problems,no complaints.

My iMac is perfect. No problems, no difficulties, no banging of the fist on the desk. I have never had an opportunity to drop it, so it can't complain about me, like my MacBook Pro can.

Once I had a Windows telephone, an iPAQ. I dropped it three feet onto the asphalt and had to buy a new one. Now I have an iPhone. I dropped it three feet onto the asphalt and it was fine. It worked just as well as before and only had one scratch. I think. I'm not sure.

So there you have a unicorn, a rainbow, a bunny, and a klutz (me).

That makes no sense at all and one has nothing at all to do with the other, wow you are really starting to slip in your trolling teckdud.

You are right, M$ will stop selling windows so that people can't install it on their mac, even though they are a software company, < N.dynamite> my gosh < /N.dynamite> you are retarded.

I've had Parallels from the beginning. It is not a good experience. If I had it to do over again I would put the money and time that I have wasted into a cheap pc and enjoy my Mac. I rarely use parallels and use it less and less. Advice: Don't buy it.

Really, just curious if you could list some if the issues you've had with it. I've been using it for years and the only issues I have had were being too lazy to actually read any of the docs, the early versions weren't that great but the last two major releases have been pretty much fantastic, so I'm just wondering what has made it such a bad experience for you.

Palm's approach: "I'm an iPod. Really. Trust me." is just so much more ethical. Do you normally interact with your neighbors by lying and misrepresenting yourself?

Given that iTunes was designed to let the user collect and play music, and also integrate iPod/iPhone devices with one's Mac or PC ... since when is Apple required to support some third-party device?

You can selectively mute posters? How?

I hope you don't mind me butting in but in version 4.0 the were some serious problems performing a Palm USB sync with the virtual machine. Most people would say "so what?" but I was working on a project for a company that required me to do some coding on a Windows machine and sync data back and forth. Version 4.0 also caused several slow downs that did get better as the updates slowly came out, but it was too little, too late. Their support at one time was steller but something changed, and even when people were submitting bug reports about the Palm sync issue (I was not the only one) it took 5 months and there still wasn't a solution.

This is cool but you have to look at the percentage of people would be using a Palm USB sync on the software and how many resources they could assign to that issue, let's face it in the BUGS database I have a feeling that's a pretty low priority.

I haven't used their software seriously until now, I am running JBOSS with a Java server app and serving up pages just fine, I also am able to hit the JBOSS server running in the windows box just fine from my mac, which is pretty much awesome for design development and all it took was one click to set up.

I can see where their customer support etc., has gone down hill (I suppose you could see it that way really) as they have grown into a major player in their space, gone are the days of calling them up and talking to an engineer that just happened to be at his desk to answer questions, have to expect that in any industry though.

Best of luck with your issue though!

---WHY didn't anyone tell me I could just put that trollstud on ignore before now!!

Seriously? You paid for Parallels, then threw it away and paid for Fusion because you didn't notice the "View -> Single Window" menu item in Parallels? Fusion has Unity mode which also blends Windows applications seamlessly the same way that the Coherence mode of Parallels does. You could've saved some money there...


Actually I disagree. I remember IBM's (most accurate) slogan stating that OS/2 ran Windows better than Windows. Windows applications ran in their own virtual space inside OS/2 such that whenever that application (inevitably) crashed, only the virtual machine would freeze up (remember, this was during the Windows 3.1 days when an unstable application would take down your entire machine) and could be halted without affecting the rest of the system.

OS/2 died because Microsoft broke off its partnership with IBM (OS/2 was a originally a joint venture) and subsequently began its (illegal) practice of charging all vendors for a copy of Windows on every machine sold regardless of whether it was used or not. That is, if I wanted to buy a machine with an OS/2 license, I had to pay for the machine, pay for my OS/2 license, and pay for a Windows license, even though I didn't use it. That artificially (and drastically) inflated the cost of the machine and ensured that very few OS/2 licenses were sold.

The DOJ investigated and simply slapped Microsoft on the wrist and asked them to please stop. When the DOJ found that Microsoft had continued this policy, they slapped Microsoft on the wrist a second time and pretty much just say, "no really, please stop - pretty please?"

By this time OS/2 had died, as had Geoworks and any other competition Microsoft had for PC-based operating systems.

Oops - that's what I get for not reading the entire thread before posting - I see someone already beat me to the punch on the real reason OS/2 died...

I know what you are saying, but for me it was the Palm because that is the USB connection I needed, for other people they had different issues with USB support. I miss the Parallels of old, you're right about how their support use to be.

--Dave

Yes I can see your point...but my experience is I love you using my iMac no wires, OSX, iWork, iWeb, iPhoto, etc., etc. But being a realtor I am forced to use Windows because Apple/Safari aren't supported by the web based MLS. So rather than have a windows box cluttering up my office I chose the lesser of two evils Parallels. I dread opening it up to go to IE6 and the clumsy subpar interface of XP. Also, I prefer Parallels as opposed rebooting to Boot Camp every time which would be too time consuming during the course of the day. I'm sure there are many out there that have Window's specific apps but prefer working in them on their Mac...as I do! Believe me if I could, I would love to S**t can Windows once and for all!

i agree my MBP and other mac.s work fine .
maybe there troll twins

Liar

Hi...
This is a great news, isn't it? It sounds perfect for those who want to transit from their current OS.Now windows user might fail to find an excuse for why they don't want to move to MAC? I would love to use it for my desktop just because it has windows and I want to get rid of it.

I use both and find both to be stable. Sorry to go against the 'PCs are virus filled piles of spyware' BS put about by Apple and their faboys.

100,000 plus known viruses for the Windows OS.

0 Viruses for Mac. Yes there are a handful (literally about 5) known Trojans for Mac, but they can't self replicate and they require the user to enter their admin password which is a warning in itself.

My fathers PC gets infected with malware, even with an up to date virus scanner and a malware scanner. After the initial infection, it takes about a week for the system to be come unusable due to backdoor infections from that point.

This is from doing what 'regular' folks do like e-mail and web browsing.

Claiming that a Windows PC is 'safe' is like claiming a Pauly Shore movie is insightful.

Sorry, but I simply don't believe you. Unless your Father is visiting porn and warez sites, there should be no way he could possibly get a virus. My net habits are far from super safe and I've never been infected once. Firefox (and I guess other browsers too?) will automatically block any mallware infected sites anyway.

So yes, I do claim PCs are safe from viruses. Very safe, in my experience. I don't know anyone who has ever had a virus come to think of it, even factoring in those who download movies/TV shows from Pirate Bay etc. The whole issue is simply a non issue now, and continues to be talked about I imagine purely to line the pockets of Symantec etc, and of course Apple.

Then you are living in a dream. It is not even necessary to open an attachment anymore. The e-mail themselves contain the executable code. They do this because your e-mail client will process HTML just as happily as your browser. If you actually worked in an IT shop, you would know that every second tuesday of the month we get our little list of exploits for Windows, and every Tuesday, thousands of IT shops around the world must deploy patches to fix such exploits. In addition there are 0 day exploits that that can't wait for the second tuesday of every month or that have no patches, meaning firewall workarounds until there are such patches. There are exploits that require no e-mail or web browsing. They simply send a string of code to your visible ports and cause a remote code execution exploit.

If you think you are 'safe' because you don't browse porn sites you are sadly deluded. If you think you are safe because you use Firefox, you are in the same boat. The browser is the most common delivery vehicle more often then not. Click-jacking is a good example. You think you are clicking on a 'safe' link but in the background, the code redirects your 'click' to an unsafe package of malware. 'Safe' sites are infected all the time via SQL injections, meaning that site you trust today may be installing malware on your PC tomorrow and quietly disabling your scanner and you don't even know it. Root kits can be installed that your virus scanner cannot even detect.

By all means. Turn of our virus scanner if you feel you don't need it

Then I guess I and every other PC user I know must just lead magical lives, as none of us have ever had infections. How could that be with all those dangers you speak of out in the wild just waiting to pounce? I'm curious.

Curious. Off-topic, ridiculous, but curious. If you do not use anti-virus, how do you know you have never been infected? The most common problems do not leave outward signs that anything is wrong. Your computer is probably owned by the Russian mafia by now. You and all of your virus-free friends are possibly a part of a huge bot net. My point is today's mall-ruses don't put up a pirate flag, yell "Got you!" and shut down your computer. They hide very well. You and your friends might want to reinstall, just to be safe.

Of course I have anti-virus, I'm not an idiot. I use Webroot Security Essentials as of all the ones I tried it seemed to be both light on system resources and didn't cause problems with media server software. (I use Twonky Media and iTunes to stream)

It runs a deep system scan every night and has never found a virus. It does however find lots of tracking cookies, which it always deletes.

Good to know you've got a condom on that thing. I wouldn't want you emailing my sister without one.

Its a small thing but the big UI convenience discovery I made when I bought my Mac was F9 and F10 as short cuts for finding the window I wanted, vs. alt-tab on Windows.