Parallels: virtualization technologies, benefits ‘just getting started’
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Nov 28, 2006 at 4:28pm
The use of virtualization on end users’ computers “is just getting started,” Benjamin Rudolph of Parallels, the company behind Parallels Desktop (a solution for running PC operating systems at the same time as Mac OS X—without re-booting—on Mactel systems), told Macsimum News. In fact, the company has plans to make gaming more feasible under virtualization beginning next year. Support for hardware accelerated 3D graphics and USB 2.0 support is coming in the next few months.
“Virtualization isn’t used much for gaming yet,” Rudolph says. “Currently, there’s no support for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, no OpenGL or DirectX support. But we’re working on that and the next version of Parallels Desktop will have it. This means, among other things, that users will be able to play games much better.”
With that development and others, virtualization for the desktop and server is just beginning to hit its stride, Rudolph says. In the past it has involved “big, expensive software,” but it’s reaching the point where virtualization is for everyone. For example, the average computer user can spend US$80 on Parallels’ software and run different operating systems.
“You no longer have to be a ‘Mac guy’ or a ‘Windows guy’,” Rudolph says. “You can buy a Mac and be a Mac guy, Windows guy, Linux guy and more. With one piece of hardware, you can do it all.”
Currently, the Parallels Desktop on the Mac used mainly by those who love their Mac, but have to run an occasional Windows app. Rudolph says the main software titles used under the virtualization environment are Outlook, Microsoft Project, Internet Explorer, Visio and Quicken.
“You can live in a Mac world and work in the Windows world, as needed,” he adds. “There are some apps the world has standardized on, but which aren’t always available on the Mac.”
Parallels Dekstop is most popular for running Windows and Windows apps (and, yes, it runs Vista as well as Windows XP with the only limitations being the ones Microsoft imposes), though an increasing number of customers are using it with Linux, Rudolph explains. There’s a considerable base of people who want to run Linux on “superior Mac hardware,” he adds.
It was Apple’s move to Intel chips that makes virtualization possible rather than emulation. VPC and its rivals had to create the entire Intel hardware set in code,.
“It’s amazing what the products could do, actually, but they were slow and sometimes unusable,” Rudolph says. “The Intel chips means that the ‘engine’ works off the hardware and makes it pretty easy to move code over to Mac OS X. In fact, our first Parallels Desktop beta was out 3.5 months after Apple announced its plans to transition to Intel processors.”
He also thinks that the Parallels’ product is more user friendly than Apple’s own Boot Camp. You can run multiple operating systems at the same time and don’t have to restart.
“For the average user who just wants to run Windows apps occasionally, rebooting is a pain,” Rudolph says. “We think that, overall, Parallels is a better option for most people, thought Boot Camp’s approach is currently better for tasks involving hardware accelerated graphics—though we’re working on that.”
The company has customers in 102 countries, and Rudolph thinks Parallels Desktop is good for Mac users and Apple itself. “People are looking at it as an opportunity to move to the Mac platform,” he adds.
A 15-day trial version of Parallels Desktop for Mac is available here. Registration is US$79.99.
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Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
