Parallels And Apple Servers

Yahoo! Finance is running an article from TechIQ about Parallels potentially giving Apple a boost in Xserve sales with an Enterprise-edition of Parallels Desktop for Mac. Quote:

SWsoft, the company that makes the popular Parallels virtualization software for Apple Macintoshes, is preparing an encore for Apple servers, The VAR Guy hears. The move could provide customers with an innovative solution for running Windows, Mac OS and Linux side by side on a departmental or small business server. And that could give Apple server sales a boost.

Rarely has a company “out innovated” Apple on its own platforms. But the existing Parallels Desktop for Mac is widely considered a better solution than Apple’s own Boot Camp software for running Windows and Mac OS X on Apple hardware. Those in the know suspect SWsoft will have another hit on its hands when the company extends its software to departmental and small business servers.

Parallels Desktop – Build 3188 (Version 2.5) – Changes

From a posting in the Parallels.com forums, it’s been revealed what the changes were in Parallels Desktop for Mac Build 3188 (Version 2.5) versus Build 3186 (Version 2.5). They are:

* Fixed guest Win98 extensive CPU usage when in idle state.
* Updated bundled Kaspersky Internet Security package.

Parallels Desktop – Build 3188 (Version 2.5)

Parallels Desktop for Mac Build 3188 (Version 2.5). No word on improvements over Build 3186.

Update: Changes between Build 3186 and 3188.

These are minor updates that won’t affect many users.

VMWare fusion 1.0b2 (Beta 2)

VMWare Fusion 1.0b2 (Beta 2) has been released by VMWare. It can be downloaded here. VMWare Fusion for Mac only runs on Intel-based Macs.

This beta adds “Experimental 3-D graphics support”, which we are guessing led to the creation of this video that shows a 3D Windows game being played under VMWare and Mac OS X. This is big, seeing as how Parallels Desktop does not have this feature. A Snapshot feature has been added, which archives “known good states” of your virtual machines. Networking and Microsoft Windows Vista support has also been improved.

Release Notes:
New and Improved Features in Beta 2
* Experimental 3-D graphics support — Play a selection of DirectX 8.1 games in Windows XP Service Pack 2 virtual machines.
* Snapshot feature — Roll back your virtual machine to a known good state when something goes wrong in your virtual machine—for example, when your virtual machine picks up a virus, or when a software upgrade causes problems.
* Improved networking — Automatically bridge to the computer’s primary network interface.
Full support for Airport wireless networking, including virtual machines behind a NAT firewall and bridged to the local Airport network.
Support for up to ten virtual network interfaces
* Improved Microsoft Vista support — Support for Microsoft Vista Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.
Complete VMware Tools support for Microsoft Vista including copy/paste, dragging and dropping files, shared folders, and screen resizing.
* Improved hardware editor — Add additional virtual hard drives to a virtual machine for needed capacity.
View the physical computer’s battery status in the virtual machine.
* Improved full screen mode — Support for plugging and unplugging displays while virtual machines are in full screen mode.
Improved usability: an on-screen tip shows how to enter and exit full screen mode easily.
* Experimental support for Mac OS X Leopard — You can now install and run VMware Fusion on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). Support is experimental because Mac OS X 10.5 is not yet released. VMware Fusion will support the release version of OS X 10.5 in the final VMware Fusion release.

Bugs Fixed in Beta 2
* Improved keyboard and mouse support — Third-party graphics tablets, keyboards, and mice no longer interfere with keyboard and mouse input.
Support for plugging and unplugging input devices while virtual machines are running.
Support for using VMware Fusion with remote access applications such as VNC, Synergy, and Remote Desktop.
* Improved CD/DVD support
* Better support for mounting and unmounting discs in virtual machines
* Quicken Scheduler corrupts keyboard and mouse input in virtual machines — Offer workaround to disable Quicken Scheduler when it is detected.
* Various other bug fixes.