Being a user of Parallels from the start, I thought I would be excited about Parallels 3, but VMware managed to sway me over. I was getting frustrated with the performance of Parallels, and the extra cost of version 3 was icing on the cake. Sure, Parallels is a bit more polished, but it lacks on basic performance. VMware has supported 64-bit chips, dual core utilization, and DirectX since the early betas, while Parallels just now added DirectX and still lacks 64-bit and dual core support. Besides, I noticed VMware runs a heck of a lot smoother on my computer compared to Parallels.

VMware has been in the virtualization market a lot longer than Parallels, so I have a feeling when Fusion comes out of beta, it will be superior to Parallels. Although, there is no telling what could come. For the most part, Vista is still untouched by both companies, leaving Aero support up for grabs. Not to mention Apple might surprise us with a virtualization announcement at WWDC. However, I feel VMware is reigning supreme on the Mac for now and will for sometime to come.

This added feature can be quite beneficial. In my testing, I found Parallels Desktop was able to install the application without any user intervention after the initial action selection. This can be helpful to users who might not otherwise install a security suite or have the knowledge to.

On the other hand, I have some concerns. I have not done a fresh Wizard XP installation, leaving me wondering if Parallels automatically installs Kaspersky. As long as Parallels provides the option to not install Kaspersky during a VM creation and does not start bundling other applications, I’m fine with this change at the moment. I just wish the Parallels team would be more open about this “feature” addition and not try to cover up an obvious advertising partnership.

This year is perhaps the first year I have purchased software. Previously application purchases were left up to my parents or (gasp) Usenet. That’s changed a lot this year, and I’ve finally cleaned up my act (for the most part). So, without further ado, here’s the list.

My 2006 Application Purchases

• Assignment Planner – Has been invaluable in keeping track of the many assignments I receive at Penn State.
• AppZapper – I use it all of the time to cleanup applications I have been testing.
• BetterZip – It’s basically WinZip for Mac, but without the unneeded bloat. It has some handy features such as stripping the Mac resources files from created archives.
• Cha-Ching – Didn’t technically buy it, but received it in a MacHeist heist. It’s been perfect for keeping track of my personal finances.
• CSSEdit2 – Used it for my web design class and redesigning cavemonkey50.com. Wouldn’t have been able to work on websites as fast as I did without it.
• Disco – While most people will say there are better free alternatives, I still like Disco. I love the animations, and it really does make burning a million times easier.
• Flickr iPhoto Export – The most convenient way to get my photos from iPhoto into my Flickr account. A little pricey, but it seems to have been worth it.
• MacHeist Bundle – Delicious Library, FotoMagico, iClip, Newsfire, and TextMate – These are all great applications which I didn’t have before MacHeist and have worked their way into my regularly used applications.
• OmniOutliner Pro – Been using it since I got my MacBook. I take all my class notes with it, and its search function makes studying a breeze.
• Parallels – While I love my Mac, I can’t escape Windows at Penn State. I’ll occasionally need to boot up Windows to test a website in IE, or program a C++ program. For those times, Parallels has done the job exceptionally.
• Pukka – Cheap application for bookmarking to Del.icio.us.
• Synergy – I use it almost every second to control iTunes and submit my listened tracks to Last.fm.
• Transmit – No other FTP app stands a chance.

Upcoming Purchases in 2007

• Adobe CS3 Educational – I pretty much require this now with all the web work I do. Looking forward to CS3 being so much faster on an Intel Mac.
• Leopard – This is given. Though, I probably won’t install it until my next semester is over.
• Microsoft Office 2007 Education Version – If Microsoft can get Office 2007 out on Mac this year, I will be buying it.
• TextMate – I love this application so much that I’ll be buying the updated version for Leopard.
• Xtorrent – As soon as Xtorrent is publicly released, I’m buying it. It’s the only Mac torrenting app worth using.

There’s my list, now what have you bought or are planning to buy?

As an Anonymous Coward said on Slashdot:

The constant improvement that this product has seen in its short existence is astounding. When you consider that it costs only $80 and has no competition at this time, it almost seems like they’re working too hard on it.

This got me thinking, could Apple have purchased Parallels? If you at look at the facts, it begins to add up. The Parallels team has been releasing new features like crazy and hasn’t been charging for them. They’ve added features like Boot Camp support, making Parallels compatible with Apple’s offering. The new Coherency mode is approaching what some people have envisioned the next version of Boot Camp to be like. To top it off, 3D acceleration is expected to land in Parallels right around the time that Leopard is shipping.

I might be completely wrong, but to me it looks like something is going on behind the scenes. If Apple has purchased Parallels, I think that explains why the Parallels team has been releasing features out the wazoo without charging for them. This won’t be the first time Apple has included third party software in one of their offerings, so I think this scenario is completely possible.

If you’re using the latest final version of Parallels, you can download PD Tweaker. PD Tweaker uses Unsanity’s Application Enhancer to modify the behavior of Parallels while it’s running in RAM, changing the way Parallels caches files. While this does consume a little bit of resources when Parallels is running, the amount of resources it prevents Parallels from using is above and beyond anything PD Tweaker takes up.

If you’re using the latest beta version of Parallels, the Parallels team has fixed the caching bug, but they haven’t enabled the fix by default. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but that’s what the Parallels team did. Fortunately it’s only a matter of changing a checkbox, which I’m going to show you how to do now.

The first thing you’ll want to do is load up Parallels. After Parallels is loaded and your Virtual Machine is open, click on the Edit button on the bottom of the VM window.

This will bring up the Configuration Editor. In the editor, click on the VM Flags tab. On the bottom right of this tab you’ll see a box entitled Cache Policy. You’ll have two options: Virtual Machine and Mac OS X, with Virtual Machine as the default setting. To fix the caching bug, simply change the option from Virtual Machine to Mac OS X and save the options. Now Parallels will stop redundantly caching the client OS.

Let’s hope that the Parallels team changes the default option to Mac OS X in the final version. I know I can’t see any situation where you would want to have the client OS consume all the resources of a machine. If you’re going to do that, why would you run Parallels in the first place? It would make more sense to use a dedicated solution like Apple’s Boot Camp.

Well, I’m not going to continue to go on about the poor choice of the Parallels team. Just be sure to either use PD Tweaker or change a simple check box. Then you’ll be able to enjoy both a speedy client operating system as well as have your host OS, Mac OS X, run as if nothing crazy was going on in the background. Digg this.