I have been using Parallels version 8 on the Mac Mini for a bit over a month. All I can say is, congratulations guys. Parallels has generally been a pretty decent product on OS X since version 6. It’s a fair statement to make that if you haven’t tried Parallels since version 6 I can say you don’t know Parallels today – but you can catch up with my very own and personal Parallels Desktop 8 review.
The reason I make that statement is a good friend of mine had tried Parallels in an earlier incarnation. I will be kind and say the distaste left in her mouth is coloring her judgment even though I am having great success with later versions.
Certainly the current version is faster than previous versions. For my purposes that does not really matter. Starting with version 7 it was “good enough”.
Thinking hard, I cannot remember seeing the program crash since version 7. However there is an improvement I am completely delighted about. That is the stability of Parallels Tools. They have done two things for Parallels Tools that I am thrilled about.
Tools now install auto magically. While that is a nice convenience it means nothing compared to the other rope trick they got going. I am thrilled to report that copy and paste between OS X and Windows works, first time and every time. This is a huge milestone for Parallels, well-worth mentioning in our Parallels 8 review.
Generally speaking I have always preferred the versions of OS X over the past three or so years over Windows. Not that I thought Windows 7 was bad. I just preferred OS X because of its slightly better security and more efficient use of the given resources.
And there are some things that are only available in Windows, full-stop.
Now with Mountain Lion, Parallels Version 8 and Windows 8 I have reached my computing nirvana. I’m not getting any BSOD’s from Windows 8 since Christmas 2011, OS X makes a pretty tough bar to overcome for the bad guys and Parallels (with for me the all-important copy & paste) is giving me my Windows tools inside OS X.
In the grudge match between Fusion from VMware and Parallels I believe Parallels takes the gold medal. It is apparent that the company understands it has achieved something pretty close to nirvana. Prior to this version when parallels would check for an update (I have mine set for every 14 days) there was indeed an update.
I installed version 8 August 31 and it had one update on September 5. Today is Sunday, October 7th, and I did a manual check for updates. There are none. I have not been having any issues and based on the lack of updates it appears no one else is either.
