Parallels Workstation 2.1 update is now available

Today we released an update for Parallels Workstation 2.1 is now available. This update is FREE to all Parallels Workstation users and customers. If you're already a Parallels users, no new key is needed...just go to the download page, select the verison you want to download, install and get back to using Workstation!

The Workstation 2.1 update includes fixes for:

• Fedora Core 5 Linux installation problems
• Incorrect initialization of VT-x mode
• Minor Windows and Linux primary OS bugs
• Inoperable keyboard in RealVNC remote session
• Activation from non-root user account
• USB scanner operation
• The segmentation fault that sometimes occurs when working with USB
• The exception fault that occurs when compacting virtual disk image

Not a Parallels user? Buy a copy of Parallels Workstation 2.1 for only $49.99 at our online store, or download and evaluate the software free for 15-days at the Parallels Download Center.

Happy 30th Birthday, Apple!

This isn't directly related to virtualization, but I wanted to take a moment to talk about Apple's 30th birthday. Pretty amazing that the company has been around for so long and is still innovating. I remember learning to type on a black and white Apple IIGS when I was in elemetary school...it makes me smile to see that Apple's gone from that simple interface to the beauty of MacOS X.

Take a look at how far Apple has come. They've gone from this:

Apple GS/OS (circa 1986)

To this:

Macintosh OS X "Tiger" (circa 2005)

If you're looking for a great article on Apple's run, check out this article by Ina Fried of News.com.

Parallels Uber Alles!

Germany loves Parallels! Check out some of the recent German media features on the release of Parallels Workstation 2.1:

	Pro-Linux Magazine Parallels Workstation 2.1
	Heise Online PC-Emulator von Parallels in Version 2.1 veröffentlicht
	PC Magazin PC-Emulator Parallels 2.1 ist fertig

Don't speak German? Translate the pages using Google Language Tools.

As they say in Deutschland...Parallels Uber Alles!

New product, new look

Forgot to include this in my last post. Check out the redesigned Workstation 2.1 boxshot!

Parallels Workstation 2.1 is Here!!

As of 9:31am this morning, the final release version of Parallels Workstation 2.1 is available for purchase for only $49.99! Thanks to all of our loyal customers and beta testers who helped us get the product ready for general release. Everyone here at Parallels really appreciates your time and effort...and your reward is a workstation virtualization product that is the most powerful, stable, high-performing available!

Workstation 2.1 offers a number of very cool upgrades, features enhancements and fixes, including:

• A completely redesigned, visually stunning user interface
• Stronger virtual machine performance, stability and isolation
• USB support enables users to access a wide range of popular USB devices like flash drives and PDAs directly in virtual machines.
• "Suspend and Resume" functionality that lets users instantly suspend a virtual machine's state and resume it at a later time without having to completely shut down and start up a guest operating system.
• Support for Physical Address Extension (PAE) allows Workstation 2.1 to run on PAE-enabled primary OSes with up to 4GB of RAM.
• Wireless networking support in Windows frees users from network cables. Now, users can connect virtual machines to the internet via any WiFi connection.
• Stronger support for Intel VT® technology and a more complex virtual processor significantly improve performance of a wide range of applications running in virtual machines.
• An improved, redesigned Parallels Tools package for Windows that provides useful add-on features that let each user customize their Parallels Workstation experience. New tools include guest/host time synchronization and complete support for normal video modes in Windows 95, 98 and Me.
• Support for dual-monitor mode enables users to export a virtual machine to a secondary display
• A new "Compact Hard Disk" feature that removes unused space from expanding virtual machine hard drives, increasing the free disk space of the primary OS
• Primary and guest OS support for SuSE Linux 10, and guest OS support for Sun Solaris
• Improved OS/2 guest OS performance

Check it out today! Get your copy for $49.99 at our online store, or evaluate a free trial version here.

forum.parallels.com is now open

We launched the Parallels forum today at forum.parallels.com. The forum is designed to provie an open, unrestricted venue where Parallels users can discuss our products, get help (or offer solutions to) technical problems, and chat about what's interesting in technology and virtualization. The forum looks great (thanks Alex!)...check it out below:


So what are you waiting for? Download Parallels Workstation 2.1 RC2 here, try it out, and then tell the world what you think on the Official Parallels Forum!

Welcome to the team!

I'm proud to welcome Josh Marans to the Parallels Marketing Team. Josh is going to be working to improve and expand our online marketing operations, and will be helping out the PR team as well. Josh is a smart guy and an accomplished writer, and I'm glad that he's joined the team.

This is Josh, the newest member of my marketing team.
In case you were confused, he's on the right.

Josh's hire not only speaks to his talents, but to Parallels' explosive growth as well; it seems like every week we're adding a new member to sales, marketing, devlopment, support or QA to keep up with our expanding product portfolio and customer base.

Cool new look!

The Official Parallels Blog just got a facelift. Thanks to Daniel and the entire Parallels design team for making the blog look so great!

In case you haven't noticed, the new blog template matches the look and feel of Parallels' Corporate Website. Take a look and marvel and Daniel et al's handiwork.

Praise from the competition

In the booth next to us at IDF was the team from SW Soft's Virtuozzo, an operating system level virtualization solution. The team was Ezequiel, SW Soft's Business Development Manager, Ilya, Virtuozzo's Product Manager, and Alexander "Tor" Tormassov, SW Soft's Chief Scientist. All in all, they were nice guys (unlike some of our competitors in the community) and have a pretty cool product.

Anyway, Ilya mentioed to me that he runs the Official Virtuozzo Blog. I checked it out earlier today and here's what I found:

"Go Parallels. Speaking about classic VMs. There are scenarios where Virtuozzo can’t help, such as demonstrating a Linux version of Virtuozzo on my Windows laptop. I used to use VMWare to demo the product, but not anymore. My 3 demo VMs – one with Virtuozzo Windows and two with Virtuozzo Linux – now run under Parallels Workstation. Parallels had a booth next to ours – that’s how I met them. They have a very robust product for a bargain price of $50."

Looks like the entire virtualization industry is starting to take notice of how great Parallels Workstation is. Ilya, thanks for the free advertising and best of luck with Virtuozzo!

And the winner is....

So, we didn't win the Best Digital Office Solution Award at IDF. But like they say at the Oscars, "its an honor just to be nominated."

In all seriousness, I mean exactly that; several hundred companies and several thousand techies attended IDF, and out of all of them, Parallels Workstation was selected as one of the three best software products for improving office productivity and lowering costs. This is extra impressive considering that many of the more "mature" virtualization companies/products, such as Virtual Iron, SW Soft's Virtuozzo, VMWare, and Microsoft's Vitual PC and Virtual Server, weren't selected for finalists in any category. XenSource did get nomiated (but didn't win) for Best Data Center Solution, which is interesting, since they don't really have a product out yet.

More on IDF later...now I have about 500 unread emails to wade through.