Parallels Desktop 6 appears on store shelves

I was in that exact same Fry's on Saturday getting stuff to try to put a SSD in my (2008) iMac 27. I walked by the Mac software but wasn't needing anything so didn't really look.

BTW: It's a pretty nice store.

Back on topic: I'm currently running Parallels (win7-64) and VirtualBox (Fedora13). I moved from Parallels from VMware and am not going back if I can help it. Parallels (for me anyway) is much faster, seems to use less resources and has been very stable.

The biggest reason I don't do vmware anymore is that I take my image between the iMac and my macbook (i5 vs Core 2 Duo) and for some reason I have to keep re-authenticating MS Office. I don't have to do that with Parallels.

Also Parallels is usable on the Air whereas VMware wasn't. (note: to be fair here I was using the previous version of VMware).

If you find Parallels 5 cheap, buy it now for a free upgrade:
http://kb.parallels.com/8740

An image just to for "posterity" :)
http://bit.ly/parallels6

Further, the full text (FYI):
"Parallels is offering a free of charge upgrade to Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac for all customers who purchase a qualifying copy of Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac between August 15th, 2010 and November 30th 2010 from an authorized reseller or from Parallels directly. Qualifying customers can claim an activation key for Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac until December 31st 2010.

"Customers who purchased their upgrade from www.parallels.com will automatically receive their activation key to upgrade to Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac via email to the email address which was supplied when purchasing and upgrade to Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac.

"Customers who purchase their upgrade from an authorized reseller can request a free of charge upgrade key for Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac by submitting the form which will come available upon release of the new version of Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac on this page (http://www.parallels.com/keyfor6) and providing the requested information. Parallels will send you the upgrade activation key 6 – 8 weeks after your submission to the email address you have provided.

"Note: Parallels reserves the right to deny and/or disregard any product request deemed in Parallels' sole discretion to be false or fraudulent. Parallels is not responsible for late requests. Fraudulent submission of multiple requests and/or providing false information disqualifies this request. eBay is not an authorized partner from Parallels, and software purchased through eBay is not eligible for a free of charge upgrade."

I'm holding a grudge against Parallels.
I was an early adopter but got burned because they charge for EVERY UPDATE. I can't run Parallels on Snow Leopard unless I rebuy the product.

VMWare doesn't requite that, which is good, but VirtualBox is free which is even better. Forget Parallels, VirtualBox rules.

Interestingly people in the Parallels 6 Beta aren't allowed to talk about this 'leak' !

Interesting. I was looking at Parallels last week and downloaded the freemium. I got an email that said if I buy I will get the next version for free.

Boot Camp Assistant only creates a Fat32 partition on your hard drive to the size you require...as Mac OS X isn't able to create an NTFS partition...

so when you install the Windows Disk...Windows will recognize the drive as a viable PC partition but will then reformat it for NTFS as that is what it has to do because it's been years since Windows has run on a Fat32 formatted hard drive

it seems confusing but once you realize the technical reasons it makes sense...

good luck...I really have liked Parallels when I have had to use it...which is few and far between and I currently the only way I use Windows if I do use it...I gave up on Boot Camp Windows cuz I would never use it...but when I gave my 2006 Macbook to my mother it was great for her as she needs windows for work

to me Parallels has the fastest progression of the software...I'm just afraid they are going to get bloated with unneeded and mostly unused extras in the software

I just purchased windows 7 ultimate yesterday and am having difficulties installing it. I used boot camp to partition the hard drive, but it said the format of the partition wasn't compatible. Is there something I'm missing? How do I format the partition?

The only problem is the huge inconvenience in booting to bootcamp and back. It's much easier to use virtualization and the speed tradeoff is worth it.

Just a general comment on virtualization technology on the Mac -> Don't believe the "90% native speed!" hype... it is very far off!

I am a software developer. I write Java applications for a living. If you don't use your computer to its fullest, then YMMV.

I used both VMWare (more stable) and Parallels (faster than VMWare) on my Mac to run Windows 7 for several months before I finally gave in and tried Windows 7 natively in Boot Camp. The difference was astounding!

Windows 7 natively is *at least* twice as fast than in VMWare or Parallels... perhaps 3x faster.

This explains why they were giving away copies of Parallels 5 to everyone at Gnomedex. Unloading inventory.