The Parallels Consumer Tech Blog is moving to blogs.parallels.com/consumertech

After 2+ years of happy blogging at Blogger, The Parallels Consumer Tech Blog is officially moving. The new URL will be blogs.parallels.com/consumertech. Update your bookmarks and RSS feeds (you can sign up for it on the blog) so you can keep tabs on what we’re up to!

I also wanted to let you know that shortly we’ll be launching a second, more enterprise-focused blog called “Virtualization, Inc.” This one will be all about enterprise-class virtualization, management and automation and will be hosting by Corey Thomas, who leads marketing for our enterprise group. I'll post a note to my blog when Corey's blog is live.

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Parallels Server Beta 3

Just a quick heads up that Parallels Server Beta 3 is now ready for download. Beta testing is going great and we're moving closer and closer to a final release.

This Beta is all about speed and stability...you'll notice that things move a lot faster than they did in Beta 1 and 2. That's really saying something because those of you who worked with the early Betas know that they were really, really fast to begin with!

Some new stuff in here as well:

• An integrated toolset that includes Parallels Tools (makes your user experience smoother, just like in Desktop), the Parallels Image Tool (tinker with your virtual hard drives) and Parallels Transporter (our free physical to virtual and virtual to virtual migration tool).

• Open APIs and SDK for extensible management. This makes it incredibly easy for 3rd party tools vendors to add support for Parallels Server. Fun fact about the SDK: the one you get is the same one we used to build the Parallels Server Management Console.

• Command line interface (CLI) scripting, including Python. Now you can automate common server tasks straight from the command line! Support for more scripting languages coming soon.

More information on what's new can be found in the Parallels Server Beta3 release notes, and at the Parallels Server Beta Page.

What are you waiting for? Go get it and tell us what you think!

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Have a question?
Then go ahead and Ask Ben Anything!

The Sun shines on Parallels

Many of you have probably seen the post on Virtualization.com that broke the news that Sun is buying Parallels for $205 Million.

Interesting idea, but not true. In reality, its the other way around...Parallels is acquiring Sun!
And, in the process, I've been promoted to "Supreme Lord Chancellor of Worldwide Communications". Needless to say, its been a good day.

Now that we've scooped up Sun, its time to move on to our next acquisition targets. Here are a few that we've got in our sites:

1. Apple. By buying Apple, we can make it even easier for people to get Desktop for Mac by simply bundling a new Mac with every copy. We figure that everyone with a Mac pretty much buys a copy of Parallels Desktop anyway, so why not cut out the middle man?
2. Microsoft. Fingers crossed that our acquisition of Microsoft goes through. These guys are a real up and comer and I think that they could do some really great things. Mark my words, they're gonna be big, and with our guidance, we can make them HUGE!
3. BMW. Because the boss likes BMWs. Simple as that.
   

As you probably understand, not a single word of this post is true (aside from the "Supreme Lord Chancellor of Worldwide Communications" bit, obviously).

Parallels is NOT being acquired by Sun or anyone else! This was just a joke put out by the Virtualization.com guys (and to their credit, it was a good one).

Happy April Fools Day everyone!

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This week's Parallels Story winner

Congrats to Mark Ward, our next winner in the Parallels Story contest. Here’s what Mark had to say:

I'm two things, but for years my computer could only be one.

I'm a biblical scholar in training, so I have needed my computer to run the expensive and powerful Windows software (BibleWorks, Logos) that I rely on for my studies and work.

I'm also a graphic designer who never can seem to say no when asked to design a T-shirt or a friend's wedding invitation… For this work I needed the computer and OS most designers prefer, Mac!

For years I had to content myself with clunkiness because school and work won out over design. Also, I was single. Girls did not like me.

But with Parallels (and Spaces in Leopard!) on my perfect little Macbook, I switch completely seamlessly and with no hiccups between OSX and Windows. I can even drag a file from OSX and drop it on my Windows desktop or in a Windows application! I copy text back and forth between OSes all day. I barely have to think about the transition.

Now my divided psyche is one. And I'm engaged to be married in May!

Thank you, Parallels!

Congrats on winning, and mazel tov on the wedding! I’m tossing in a second gift card in the mail…one for you, and one for your bride-to-be.

You can also read more about Mark (and Mrs. Mark) at their blog.


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Customer Reviews

It was recently brought to my attention that two Parallels employees posted, on their personal time, some not-so-nice comments and reviews of VMware Fusion on Amazon.com, and while they tagged their posts with their full names, they didn’t include the company name. Our team is a passionate one, and in this case, two of our most passionate members were overzealous in their support of Parallels, and went a bit too far.

The situation was taken care of immediately. Those posts have been removed, we’ve talked with the posters and their managers, and we’ve taken action to make sure that this doesn’t happen ever again.

I appreciate your understanding here. If you have questions about what’s going on, please email me, and I’ll talk with you personally.

InfoWorld: Parallels Server Beta is on the right track

Randy Kennedy at InfoWorld posted his "first look" at Parallels Server today, and gave us the thumbs up.

Here are some highlights:

“...I did find Parallels Server to be quite responsive, allowing me to install Windows Server 2003 into a new VM at a very competitive pace. I also found the various performance and resource utilization counters to be both helpful and informative, with everything arranged neatly in a series of tabbed panes within the VM console window.”

”In summary, the inclusion of multi-CPU support and improved networking in Parallels Server – plus the aforementioned “bare metal” option (which I didn’t get to test here) – are important steps forward and should help the company to establish its virtualization offering as a viable data center competitor to VMware and Microsoft.”

You can read the whole article at the InfoWorld Test Center.

Interested in seeing what all the fuss is about? Hit the Parallels Server Beta page and take a look!

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My Parallels Story: Parallels Makes My MacBook "Ultimate"

Congrats to Jason DeFuria for writing the first blog to win our "cool Parallels Story" contest! Here's what Jason wrote about Parallels on his MacBook:

I have been using computers since Windows 3.1, where icons were the big addition to the operating system. Always in school we used apple computers.

Last year, my dell laptop had been acting funny. I finally caved and bought a macbook precisely one year ago. It’s cool, a lot smaller (I couldn’t afford the larger models, even as a student)

The tragic flaw was, for some of the homework I needed to do, I needed windows. I would have to switch back and forth between laptops, or go use the windows computers in the library. This was always a pain.

Then a friend going to WPI recommended Parallels. It might be the greatest thing since the invention of the computer.

I can run windows and mac together at the same time on my computer. I can also run applications side by side with those on my mac.

It has saved me numerous times, and makes me excited to see what technology is coming too. Parallels keeps improving, and I like them much more the VM Fusion.

To post in this blog, I use windows live writer alongside some mac editing software. All through parallels.

I suggest you go buy a copy at Amazon.com, and check out the specs on www.parallels.com

You can read more about Jason's exploits and adventures at www.whatplanetisthis.com.

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Tell your Parallels story and win $25!

This morning's post gave me an idea: If you have a great Parallels story, why not share it with the world...and make a bit of cash in the process? Thus was born the "My Parallels Story" blog contest.

Here's how its going to work:

1. Write up a blog post on your blog (or your friends') about how you're using Parallels Desktop and why you think it rocks.
   
2. Post it live so the world can read it.
   
3. Email the link of the post to askben@parallels.com. Be sure to use the subject line "My Parallels Story" so it gets to the right folder in Outlook.
4. I'll pick a "best story" winner each week to feature on my blog.
   
5. The winner will get a $25 VISA gift card.

Simple, right? Now get blogging!

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Parallels Rocks. Hard.

It's been a while since I've shared a cool customer story with you, but I came across this one and thought it was blog-worthy:

With no outright offers to trade for a new machine, I am learning to love my Mac all over again. This is a more mature love, one without unrealistic expectations or unreasonable demands (like moving the Fn and CNTL keys).

I am taking a 10 hour per day course this week on WCF and WF. I saw this as an opportunity to force myself to use my Mac to write code and to play with some features I knew were there but didn’t grok. So, I am spending my time sitting next to Sir Macalot, Matt Berther, so that he can tell me things like, "you need to remap that key," or "download this killer thingy bobber."

It is working. I am falling in love all over again. This time with Parallels and OSX running my Windows environments instead of Boot Camp. Frankly, Boot Camp has never worked 100% with the driver issues I encountered and the funkiness of the Mac CMD key. I forked over my $80 and bought Parallels and removed my Boot Camp partition of Windows.

I am a much happier camper and the experience of dedicating an OSX Spaces space to my Vista VM is just awesome. AWESOME! It’s really like having several computers in the same box, finally. Lots of VM and switch ports pretend to offer this capability, but this is the first time I have ever actually been able to get that feeling of complete and total integration of more than one machine under my keyboard.

Bottom line, Parallels rocks. Hard.

I then have another space dedicated to my remote control of a VM in our cloud. Connectivity provided by Remote Desktop Connection for Intel Mac (Mac software from Microsoft). This is just pure butter. The performance of the VM is stellar and I can actually code in there with little to no lag.

So, here I sit, writing this post in my Vista VM, while making sweet, sweet love to my Mac Book Pro. Did I mention that the keyboard is still bugging me?

This post was written by David Starr of Elegant Code, which is as he puts it, "a group of like-minded software developers, architects, and technologists who share a feed that originates in Boise, Idaho."

Thanks for sharing your story!

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Protecting your Windows VM against malware

Yesterday, Norton debuted Norton AntiVirus Dual Protection for Mac, a new bundle that includes Norton AntiVirus 2008 for Windows with Norton AntiVirus 11 for Mac. This is pretty big deal, as this is a major company rolling out a new product specifically for users running Windows and OS X at the same time using Parallels Desktop for Mac. Its just one more indication that giving Mac users the ability to seamlessly run Windows and OS X at the same time is one of the biggest and most important steps in personal computing in recent memory.

You've heard me say many times before that you need to protect your Windows VM against spyware, viruses and other malware, just like you would protect a real Windows machine. that's why even though I'm happy that Norton is hopping on the virtualization train, they're a bit late...we started including a FREE 6-month subscription to Kaspersky Internet Security Suite for Windows over a year ago to specifically address this concern. The subscription is completely free for 6 months and is included with every copy of Parallels Desktop.

To install and activate your copy, just log into Windows, go to the "actions" tab in the menu bar, and click "Install Kaspersky". Its the easiest (and cheapest!) way to protect your VM.


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