At Work On a Mac

Intro
I just finished installing Parallels 5.0 on my old faithful iMac because I need to install State from xtranormal (ODPCI: obligatory divulgation of potential conflict of interest, I work for them ). Since this ol’ thing (3 years) is running XP and that I haven’t had any reason for using Windows for a while (using IKEA’s kitchen software was the “oldest” motivation I can recall), I was 54 Windows updates behind. Add to this ordeal the conversion of my previous Parallels virtual machine install (circa 3.0) and the new State install and you will understand why OS X is a must have and that there should never be a reason to go back once you go Mac.

Development
Well it is just amazing. In a nutshell, this preferred approach to running Boot Camp, had always been plagued by speed issues. Not anymore. While I have not had time to give it an extensive run for its money, I notice a huge difference in Windows start-up, program call up and reactiveness as a whole. Everything has been simplified. It is just seamless and blends perfectly with OS X. It now supports dual monitors. It has an iPhone free application to run virtual machines remotely from the palm of your hand.

Coherence or the ability to blend Windows with OS X was just taken to another level with a “Crystal” mode option that makes the few remaining boundaries disappear. Your are literally running Windows in OS X. If that wasn’t made clear before, this is the utmost advantage over running Windows in a Boot Camp.

Conclusion
I highly recommend Parallels for people wishing to carry Windows (it supports Windows 7) around for the few remaining instances whereby you would be required to run a native PC application on your Mac.