The following article, published last month in USA Today, takes a look at the two main virtualization options available to Mac users:
Reluctant to switch to a Macintosh because so much of your favorite software requires Microsoft Windows? Now you don't have to hold back.
Apple's free Boot Camp beta software can also make your Intel-based Mac a screaming-fast Windows machine. But when you turn your computer on, you must choose to work in either Windows or Mac's OS X Tiger.
That's why I've been more intrigued by Parallels Desktop for Mac. The $80 "virtualization" software lets you run the Mac's operating system and Windows side-by-side. Alas, compared with Boot Camp, Parallels was poky and buggy when I first tried it last year.
Last week, the Seattle-area start-up behind Parallels unveiled a less-geeky update that addresses many of its shortcomings, including plug-and-play support for USB 2.0 devices. Moreover, Parallels piles on new features, the neatest of which makes it look like you are running Windows programs right on your Mac desktop, along with other Mac programs.
It's still not for beginners. And I got off to a tough start testing the latest version of Parallels with Windows XP on an iMac. Windows couldn't recognize my Hewlett-Packard USB printer or Seagate USB storage device. I encountered the lingering hourglass, bizarre "fatal error" messages and the dreaded "blue screen of death" that sometimes precedes a PC meltdown.
Parallels said the snags had more to do with a corrupted copy of XP rather than its own software. Seems so. The glitches disappeared when I loaded a fresh retail copy of XP Professional.
Let's dive into the Parallels universe.
•The basics. Think of a virtual machine as a stand-alone computer on your Mac. It behaves as if it has a Pentium processor (though the Intel chip inside the Mac is something different). It works best on Macs with a lot of memory -- Parallels recommends at least 1 gigabyte -- because the software can put a strain on the system.
Parallels does more than just Windows. It works with Linux, OS/2, MS-DOS and other operating systems. You choose a guest operating system during installation.
In most cases, you'll have to buy a new copy of Windows (not an upgrade) and activate or authorize the software online or over the phone. It's Microsoft's way of making sure your copy of Windows is legit.
The XP Pro version I used for testing cost $300. Ouch. However, if you already have a version of Windows loaded on the Mac and are using Boot Camp, you need not reinstall it for Parallels. Microsoft will make you reactivate, however, since it now thinks you are running Windows on a different computer.
If you just bought a Mac and are retiring an old PC, you can transfer Windows (plus programs and data) from that old computer to the Mac using a new migration tool called Parallels Transporter. You'll have to connect a cable to both machines. Parallels says to check licensing agreements to make sure you can legally transfer the PC's version of Windows to another machine.
• Parallels or Boot Camp? I was impressed with the speed at which basic Windows programs such as Internet Explorer and Quicken ran in Parallels. But when Parallels is running, trying to do things such as open iTunes or iPhoto on the Mac side is noticeably slower.
Indeed, Boot Camp outshines Parallels in a few ways. It's free. Unlike Parallels, it works with camcorders and other devices you connect via a FireWire cable. It's superior if you work with heavy-duty graphics or play 3D games. Though you can run Windows Vista in Parallels, you cannot take advantage of the new operating system's lovely Aero graphics.
• Virtualization reality. Parallels is much friendlier than it used to be. As before, you click on simple VCR-like icons to control the virtual machine. Click "play" and a configuration window flips around to show XP in its own window.
You can move your mouse pointer at will between operating systems and easily share an Internet connection. You can drag and drop files between the Mac and Windows, too, or drag an entire file folder onto a "Shared Folders" icon in Windows. I used a picture in my Mac's iPhoto library as the background in Windows. It was oddly out of focus on the Windows side. Not so on the Mac side.
The most dramatic enhancement in Parallels is called Coherence, a feature that lets you run Windows applications (Outlook, Internet Explorer, etc.) directly on the Mac desktop. Windows icons appear on the strip of programs on the Mac known as the Dock. If seeing the Windows taskbar above the Dock is disconcerting, you can switch to a full-screen Windows view.
Windows wrests control of the CD/DVD-ROM player from OS X when Parallels is running. I successfully copied music off a CD in Windows Media Player but couldn't play a DVD because I lacked a compatible DVD decoder in my copy of Windows. A second software DVD player in Windows called InterActual failed to play my discs because of a confusing video problem.
Windows is as vulnerable inside a Mac to viruses as any PC. Parallels comes with a six-month trial version of Internet security anti-virus software from a small company called Kaspersky Lab. It wasn't bug-free. After scanning Windows for viruses with the program, I received a funky error message indicating that a previous launch of the Kaspersky program had failed.
For mainstream users who need to run a Windows app or two on their Mac, Parallels is a fine program that has come a long way.
Source: "Windows, Macs Co-Exist" by Edward C. Baig, published in USA Today.
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