Windows in Mac OS X: Living With Parallels RC2

Over the weekend, I've used Napster, TiVo to Go, the beta of Skype 2.5, a PC World internal publishing tool which requires Internet Explorer 6.0, and the beta version of Microsoft Office 2007. None of which would be worth mentioning except that these are Windows-only items, and I've been doing it all on my Apple Macbook notebook. And I haven't been using Boot Camp to dual-boot into Windows.

I've been using Parallels Desktop for Mac, the virtualization software that lets you run Windows, and Windows apps, without leaving OS X. (If Boot Camp lets you dual-boot, Parallels lets you...well, simul-boot.) I blogged about Parallels when it was announced a couple of months ago; it's come a long way since then, and is currently available in a freely downloadable "RC2" (read: almost-final) version. Virtualization isn't without its gotchas, but Parallels is mighty handy--and if your goal is to spend most of your time in OS X, bopping into Windows programs here and there as your work requires, it holds the promise of being far more useful than Boot Camp's Mac-or-Windows-but-not-both-at-the-same-time approach could ever be.

Like Boot Camp, Parallels runs on Intel-based Macs and requires that you buy a full copy of Windows XP (or one of numerous other OSes it supports--anyone out there have a yen to run OS/2 in OS X?). But while Boot Camp helps you install Windows on a separate disk partition, Parallels lets you install it within a "virtual machine" you can use within OS X.

That virtual machine can run as an OS X window, living side-by-side with OS X programs. Here, for instance, is Napster (which isn't available in a Mac version) happily coexisting with Apple's iChat on the OS X desktop:



But you can also run your virtual Windows machine in full screen mode--in which case you toggle back and forth between OS X and XP, and it feels like you've got two computers at your fingertips. (Parallels includes support for a separate utility called Virtue Desktops that makes this process especially seamless and startling.)

Here's a quick-and-dirty YouTube video showing me starting in OS X, launching Word for the Mac, flipping into Windows XP (via Virtue), loading the beta of Word 2007 for Windows, then returning to OS X:



(Note that Word 2007 for Windows loads faster than Word for the Mac in the video; the latter is also running in less-than-native fashion, since it's a PowerPC application which relies on Apple's "Rosetta" technology to work on an Intel Mac like the MacBook.)

As I've mentioned before, I've used Microsoft's Virtual PC, which ran on PowerPC Macs, in the past. It did something vaguely similar to what Parallels, with the additional complexity and speed hit that came from virtualizing an OS written for x86 CPUs onto an entirely different platform. For anyone who used Virtual PC, the first question about Parallels is "How fast is it?" So far, I've found that the answer is "Surprisingly so." With Virtual PC, you never forgot that your PC was virtual; with Parallels, you might.

Or you might not. Unlike Boot Camp, Parallels needs to emulate various hardware features to make them work. As of now, it's not doing full accelerated 3D, so it's not an option for hardcore games (I didn't even try). Its graphics are up to the job for the relatively undemanding apps I've used so far--in fact, they feel positively snappy for the most part--but if your goal is to make Parallels look sluggish, you can. Drag a window around the screen quickly, for example, and it'll follow, but with a slightly choppy gait, at least on my MacBook.

Parallels' support for USB is also less than absolute: It's only doing USB 1.0 at the moment, and beta testers have reported problems with certain devices. And my MacBook's SuperDrive DVD burner can't burn CDs or DVDs in my virtual Windows machine, although the Parallels folks are working on burning support.

Parallels, like most virtualization applications for any platform before it, still skews a little geeky. For instance, one features lets you expand your virtual machine's virtual hard disk on the fly--but it doesn't explain that Windows will only notice it's larger if you do some additional heavy lifting that requires either a third-party disk tool or some command-line skills. There's nothing here that a seasoned Windows user can't figure out, but I'd love to see certain aspects of it get a little simpler. (And I wonder whether Microsoft, Apple, or anyone else could be working on a "virtualizaton for the rest of us" product even as we speak.)

Incidentally, Boot Camp has its quirks, too: It eventually decided to suffer a Blue Screen of Death every time I launched AOL's "Triton" instant messenger. Parallels has blue-screened once, but mostly it's run smoothly, doing all the things it claims to do without complaint. Both products are still in beta, and the whole idea of running Windows on a Mac is still in its infancy, so it's hard to be too accusatory about their performance.

Mostly, I've been impressed by how much has gone right with Parallels. Hardware limitations aside, the only applications I've installed that have proven ornery are ones, like TiVo to Go, that also have their problems on non-virtual Windows PCs. Bottom line: For now, at least, I've blown away my Boot Camp partition. When I'm in Windows on this Mac, it'll be via Parallels. It's one of the best reasons yet for considering an Intel Mac.

When Parallels released RC2 of its Mac edition last week, it also announced some changes in its plans for the shipping version. Originally, it was going to go for $40, and a compression utility--which crunches down virtual machines to require less disk space--was going to be optional. Instead, Parallels Desktop for Mac will go for $80, and the compressor will be included. Which is not an unreasonable approach given that many people will run Parallels on Macs with 60GB or 80GB hard disks that don't have huge amounts of space to spare in the first place.

Parallels is, of course, honoring orders from customers who pre-ordered when the product was going to be $40. But it's also still offering the $40 price to new purchasers until the package ships. That's the honorable thing to do, and if the final version of Parallels lives up to its potential, it'll be quite a deal.