That’s more like it, and actual box. This time, SNOW had dusted the box left by the UPS man on the porch, as a light snowfall has settled over the city these last three days. Which could be worse, as to the west and north of us is getting huge amounts of snowfall.
Now, I have to be honest. This is one UnBox that will come as no surprise at all to me. In fact, I was really looking forward to this one, as it is an application that has been well advertised in the news, and the company, Parallels, told me they would be sending a boxed version for just this episode of UnBox. But don’t for a minute think that takes away some of the excitement I have for this product!
Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac is a major release of the first Virtualization software package for the Mac. It’s hard to believe we are at version 4 already, and from published reports, this is a major stepping stone in Parallels Desktop.
While I have the Boxed version of the software, you can actually buy and download the software right now. The download is around 180MB, which is smaller than I would have thought such a major product would be. I have video podcasts that I download which are larger in size!
If you are seriously thinking about buying, now would also be a good time, as Parallel is holding a contest for a new MacBook, Apple TV, iTune gift cards, and an iPod Nano. I don’t think I can enter… sob…
After checking out the website, I learned a few things I did not know. For instance, there are 1.5 million users of Parallels Desktop! That is a lot of Mac users with a need to run Windows software! And remember, Apple provides a FREE way to run Windows in Apple hardware. But that method, BootCamp, requires you restart your computer into Windows, meaning no more access to your Macintosh until you (yawn) reboot again. Virtualization is clearly a better solution for most Windows needs.
A few really cool things about Parallels Desktop 4.0:
Instant Menu Access in the Dock. You know that crappy Start Menu that PC users have grown accustomed to using? (Yeah, I hate it, too) You can access to that right in the Mac OX Dock!
Better Graphics support. DirectX 9.0, DirectX Pixel Shader 2.0, and OpenGL 2.0.
Access to 8GB of RAM.
One of the big features I remember reading online is that Parallels Desktop 4.0 boasts a 50% speed increase! That alone is a great reason to pick up this new version.
Parallels Desktop 4.0 is not simply a “Windows on your Mac” software package. You can also run Leopard Server in a virtual machine, a Linux box, and the artificial intelligence WOPR OS with direct access to NORAD and a game of chess! Okay, that last part isn’t true, but only because the WOPR is not real. Neither is Matthew Broderick, but that’s a different topic all-together.
I can’t wait to install and start playing with Parallels Desktop 4.0 soon! Check back for more hands-on time with it in a few weeks.
Price: $79.99
Upgrade for $39.99!
http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop
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