Parallels Serves Up Desktop Beta 2

Beta 2 of the Parallels Desktop 3.0 update focuses on features that allow Mac owners to automatically share movies, pictures, music, documents and even desktops between Windows operating systems and Apple's OS X due to a tighter integration between the two OSes.

"This beta adds two cool new features that make working with a virtual machine easier than ever before," said Benjamin Rudolph, Director of Corporate Communications at Parallels.

The beta is available for download at the company's Web site. Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac, priced at US$79.99, is available as well.

Share and Share Alike

With Beta 2, Parallels has improved the software's Coherence technology so that now Mac users can minimize any Windows screen to the dock as they would with any normal Mac-based application screen. Other Coherence enhancements include support for Exposé and Transparent Windows and the ability to silently boot into Coherence mode.

"This is very handy if you're a OS X power user who's dependent on the cool GUI (graphical user interface) stuff that OS X has to offer, Rudolph explained. "It's another way that we're making the experience of work with the applications from different OSes completely seamless."

The company's software designers have also given a boost to the application's Shared Folder tool, which now displays the My Documents folder and all subfolders, such as My Movies, My Pictures and My Music, and their contents, as a Mac home folder. This enables users to access their most frequently used and critical files from either OS, without going through the process of dragging and dropping the files or moving them using a traditional shared folder or copying the file, the company said.

The software also now has the ability to automatically map and access the Shared Folders using the Windows drive.

"What is especially cool is that the new Shared Folder tool provides direct access to the files/folders original location (i.e. it doesn't duplicate anything)," Rudolph continued, "so you don't have to worry about running out of disk space."

Beta 2 also provides Mac users with Linux PC and virtual machine migration to a Mac using the Transporter tool as well as the ability to change their Virtual Machine's disk format with the Parallels Image Tool. Users can change their sound devices on the fly with the new beta and also connect to their iPhone with Windows-based iTunes.

Other changes include better central processing unit usage and overall performance , as well as memory management.

Virtual Computing

When Parallels launched its Desktop for Mac virtualization software in 2006, it was touted as the first solution of its kind to allow users to run Windows-based operating systems simultaneously in no-called isolated virtual machines directly on an Apple Intel-based system running Mac OS X. At the time, analysts predicted that the software would motivate Mac users to cart their Apple laptops to the office and reduce the need for more than one computer. This would give Apple a larger share of the computer market as PC-users who had always wanted a Mac went out and bought one.

However, that prediction has not fully come to pass -- office workers still largely tote PCs. Parallels is a consumer offering compared with VMware (NYSE: VMW) Fusion, Natalie Lambert, a Forrester Research analyst, told MacNewsWorld. While it can be used by corporate users, it does not have a centrally managed component.

"It makes it more friendly for Mac users in the office, but that really isn't what it is designed for," she explained. "Desktop virtualization technologies in general are increasing the number of users buying Macs. Why? Because application incompatibilities are a large reason why Apple has had a hard time gaining market share. I think these technologies are a great step forward for Apple."

The new beta serves two purposes for Parallels following increased competition from VMWare, Michael Silver, an analyst at Gartner (NYSE: IT) , told MacNewsWorld. In June, Parallels' rival launched VMware Player 2, which gives users the ability to run 32-bit and 64-bit applications and operating systems on Windows or Linux-based machines, as well as VMWare Fusion for Mac, which allows Mac owners to run Mac, Windows, Linux, NetWare and Solaris-based applications at the same time.

"The big change that's really occurring here is VMWare's entry into the market, and Parallels need to make sure they are competing effectively with them," he said.