Agreed. I've also expressed this concern, but I don't think Parallels gets it, I don't think they understood me.
I'm overall concerned with the evolution to build 3120. Parallels is putting too much focus on making Windows run well within the Mac at the expense of running Mac programs. This is very bad strategy. I am using a Mac running Mac OS X first and foremost. Running WIndows is a nice addon, but you cannot break my ability to use the Mac. If all I wanted to do was run Windows, I'd use bootcamp and not buy Parallels. If you make the Mac run poorly enough, I won't run Parallels and won't buy it.
Parallels: Make sure whatever feature you add doesn't hurt the ability to run Mac programs.
My specific issues:
- The security issue mentioned here. I run a Mac so that I don't have to worry about viruses. WIth this scary feature turned on, Parallels have managed to instantly make my Mac OS X machine totally open to viruses and spyware. Completely unacceptable.
- I have experienced very high CPU utlitization rates even when the WIndows VM is idle. When Windows 2000 is reporting 0% CPU util, Parallels consumes 25-60% of my Mac's CPU while doing NOTHING. This again is totally unacceptable.
I also have an issue with the coherance mode. I don't really want my WIndows programs running seamlessly within the Mac, because of viruses etc. Too much focus on hacking specific hooks into WIndows while basic Parallels tools don't exist for Linux.
Because of the CPU utilization problem, I've reverted back to build 1970 and have been pretty happy. I am also giving VMWare a more serious look as I'm in the beta. Good video support is more important than some of the new Parallels features.
Last edited: Feb 12, 2007