FREE Parallels presentations at the San Francisco Apple Store during WWDC!

If you're not attending WWDC but are in the San Francisco area and want to learn more about Parallels, I hope that you'll be able to make it to the San Francisco Apple Store (On Stockton Street, just north of the Moscone Center West) on Monday, August 7th and Tuesday, August 8th from 7-8:30pm for free, open-to-the-public presentations/Q&A I'll be giving.

I'll be at the store discussing tips and tricks to help you get the most out of Parallels Desktop, giving a high-level overview of the technology that powers our software, and answering audience questions.

Seating is limited, so get there early!

I'll be at WWDC, will you?

From August 7th-11th, Mac geeks from all over the world will converge on the Moscone Center in San Francisco for the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference. This week long event is one of two major Apple events each year (the other being MacWorld), and this is definitely the more technical of the two. There are dozens of focused technology training sessions, lots of great presentations, and of course, Steve Jobs' keynote speech where he'll be previewing OS 10.5 "Leopard" as well as upcoming Apple hardware technologies.

I, and several other guys from Parallels, will be at WWDC in full force. So if you have a technical question, are interested in exploring a partnership with Parallels, or just want to say "hi", find me or any other Parallels team member. We'll be in bright orange shirts like the one below:

I'm 6'2", weigh 230 lbs, shave my head and will be in a bright orange shirt.
There's no way you can miss me at WWDC.

Adobe's Mike Downey digs Parallels

Mike Downey, Senior Product Manager for Flash Products at Adobe, recently had great things to say about Parallels Desktop. This quote was taken from a larger interview about the status of Flash for new Intel-Macs that was published in Mac Design Pro Magazine a few days ago:

"I will add that both myself and my counterpart who runs the development team, Doug Benson, are avid Mac users and have been very pleased with our new MacBook Pros. I'm especially happy with the performance and capabilities of Parallels running Win XP. I no longer need to carry two laptops with me when I travel."

Pretty high praise from two of the best in the computer industry. Check out the full article here.

Parallels invades Denmark

Live in Denmark? Want to get started with Parallels Desktop?

You're in luck; Jan Dalsgaard, owner of Aktivdata.dk, has just written - in Danish of course - "How to Install Windows XP with Parallels on an Intel-Mac."

Jan is the undisputed Mac genius in Denmark, and this work is a great example of his talent, and of his real dedication to the Mac platform.


You can buy the full 36-page walk-thorugh guide at the Aktivdata.dk online store for 98 Danish Kroner (about US$16.50). It's a bargain in any currency.

Pimp Your MacBook with Parallels

Uncrate, a men's magazine that focuses on cool gear that guys need, just listed Parallels Desktop as one of the top 10 things you need if you're buying a new MacBook.

The article leads off by saying: "Apple's new MacBook is easily the best laptop for the money currently being sold. It packs in spectacular power and some of the most advanced features available. That said, there's always room to accessorize. Being longtime Mac users and new MacBook owners, we've rounded up our top 10 products to help you pimp your MacBook."

I agree 100%. That being said, we should have been higher on the list (Desktop comes in at #5)...at least ahead of the stylishly questionable nylon sleeve that they listed first.

Parallels Desktop: #5 on the list of the most bad-ass stuff you can buy for a MacBook

Check out the full top-10 list here.

Working with Solaris 10 in Parallels Desktop

Martin MC Brown has posted a great entry on his blog about how to get Solaris 10 working in Parallels Desktop. For those of you looking to work with Solaris, I highly recommend you check this out...its a good supplement to our quickstart guide, and provides a straightforward, real-user look at how to get up and running with Solaris.

The finished product; Solaris 10 running in a Parallels virtual machine

For those of you unfamiliar with Martin, he's a well respected tech journalist who contributes to a number of leading tech magazines and all-around computer guru. He just wrote up a great blog post about Parallels Destkop for Computerworld, titled "Parallels Lowers the Impact of Boot Camp."

Parallels Desktop hits the Apple Store, Part II

Earlier this week I let everyone know that we're on the shelves in the Apple Store. Now we're in the online store too!

So if you're not near a store selling Parallels Desktop (pretty hard to do, considering that we're in Staples, Office Depot, Fry's, MicroCenter, CompUSA...), you can order a copy of Parallels Desktop for Mac via the Apple Store Online. You even get free shipping!

Parallels Desktop hits the Apple Store

As of this week, you can now pick up a real, boxed copy of Parallels Desktop for Mac in any Apple Store!

Not close to an Apple Store? Don't worry...you'll soon be able to get Parallels Desktop at

• Staples
• Office Depot
• Fry's Electronics
• CompUSA
• Amazon.com
• Micro Center
  

and many other retailers nationwide!

The product will be selling at an SRP of $79.99, the same price that you'll find in our Online Store. Through Aug. 15, however, users who purchase Parallels Desktop for Mac through any of our retail partners will be eligible for a $20 rebate when they purchase Windows XP within 14 days. The rebate form is available at www.novadevelopment.com/windowsrebate.

The retail rollout is great news for a few reasons. First, it makes Parallels Desktop even more accessible to Mac users nationwide since you can actually go to a store and hold the software in your hands. More importantly, it reinforces Apple's committment to Parallels Desktop as the preferred method of running Windows on a Mac. Now, we're in their ads (see the "Touche" ad), on their website, and in their stores.

And now, on to pictures:

The new box, complete with an endorsement from Walt Mossberg.


Me with the first shipment of boxes at the Apple Store in Tysons Corner, VA. My friend Kristin said that I look like a new father posing with his kid.


Parallels Desktop on the shelf!

A big thank you to Roger Bloxberg and the staff of Nova Development, our exclusive retail publisher, for helping to get the boxes out the door in such a short timeframe. Great work!

"Installing XP on a Mac" by AskDaveTaylor.com

Over the past few weeks I've had the chance to talk several times with Dave Taylor, a true Mac guru and the proprietor of AskDaveTaylor.com, one of the most useful Mac resource/support sites on the net. If you've got Mac questions, chances are Dave can answer it for you.

About two weeks ago, someone wrote Dave this query:

"I read through your splendid tutorial on installing Windows XP with Apple's Boot Camp product but that's not for me. I don't want to have to reboot each time I want to try something out with a Windows app on my Mac. I've read about something called the Parallels Desktop and am hoping you can explain how to install it and how to use it so I can run Windows in parallel with Mac OS X? Thanks."

Rather than simply write a one-liner back about our quick start guide or the Parallels technical support forum, Dave decided to do a complete walk-through of the process of using Parallels Desktop to install XP on a Mac.

As usuall, he did a hell of a job. Check out his write-up by following the link below; its a great supplement to the Parallels quick start guide and provides a good third-party perspective of how easy it is to get Parallels Desktop up and running on your Mac.

• How do I install Windows XP on my Mac with Parallels Desktop?, by Dave Taylor