Parallels Quick to Launch 3.0 Mac Virtualization

When Parallels announced the Beta of Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac, they told me it would be live soon. And it looks like when they said “soon”, they really did mean it!

Parallels announced the release of the 3.0 product, however unlike previous updates, current customers won’t be getting a free upgrade to the latest and greatest product. Instead, they are going to have to pay $49.99 while new customers are charged $79.99. Unlike previous updates though, this 3.0 release is packing quite a punch with over 50 new features, enhancements and improvements to the product.

Like previous versions of the software, the latest release allows users to run Mac OS X, Windows and Linux on the same computer, and all at the same time.

“This new version is an important milestone for us helping computer users get the best of all operating systems on a single, seamless desktop,” said Nick Dobrovolskiy, CEO of Parallels, Inc.

SmartSelect is being called the anchor of the product, and with good reason. This is one of their newest features which allows a user to select an application on either OS X or Windows and then have that application open any file type regardless of whether that file is on the Mac or Windows desktop. Users can select the right application to open a file each time via a right click, or they can set a default application association for that file type.

Another new feature found in this release is the addition of 3D graphic support. Gamers, designers and developers will certainly appreciate this addition. For years, these types of users have been begging for this type of support in their virtualization guest environments. Now, with added hardware-accelerated 3D graphics and support for OpenGL and DirectX 8.1, users can make the most of Windows-only 3D CAD programs and Mac gamers can enjoy games like Quake, World of Warcraft, Half-Life 2 and one of my all-time favorites Unreal Tournament.

And no virtualization platform is complete without snapshot capabilities. Now, users of Parallels Desktop for Mac can instantly save the state of a virtual machine’s memory, settings and hard disk and then revert back to that instance at any time. VMware users take this feature for granted since it has been part of the VMware platform for some time now. But Parallels’ users can now enjoy the freedom of being able to make a change or a mistake within their environment, or they can simply use their system without fear of corruption since they can now rollback to a known good state.

Parallels Desktop 3.0 offers many more new features and improvements. You can check them out, as well as watch videos or view screenshots of the software, by going here.