I have just noticed that Parallels Desktop (I'm using 3120) does the most horrible thing any application can do: It jumps to the front without being summoned, and starts stealing keypresses and mouse clicks. I was downloading (via IE) and installing Seamonkey, the Mozilla browser suite, in XP, and while it was going, I went back to my Mac apps and went about my business. On three separate occasions, Parallels popped in front of all my Mac apps, apparently seeking congratulations because the download had finished, because the installer had finished preparing itself, and so on. There seems to be no preference to disable this behaviour, which is really unacceptable. I don't recall it happening in earlier versions of Parallels. Not everyone checks every inch of all of their computer screens for unexpected changes before each keypress. Some of us just type, while looking the window we're working on, or at a piece of paper, or the telephone. We expect that the window we are typing into will stay in the front until we click on another one. To have keypresses suddenly start going into a different application for no good reason - especially considering the havoc the "enter" key can cause in the wrong dialog box at the wrong time - is so annoying I can't even begin to express my depth of irritation without busting out the swear words. Please please please make it possible for users to deactivate this dangerous and frustrating behaviour, or just get rid of it completely.
I agree. This has been a problem for a while now... Please do not allow Windows apps to steal focus for any reason whatsoever. If I wanted to let things steal focus then I would not have bought a Mac!
You may want to consider investigating how to change that default behavior from within Windows for the programs where you want that default behavior to NOT occur.
In this case it was happening with things like an installer that I'd just downloaded. I wouldn't have any opportunity to change that. Also, while your proposal could in some cases address the issue (and I take it as offered in the spirit of being helpful), I wouldn't be happy if Parallels left it there. Fundamentally it's a case of Parallels enabling an obnoxious Windows behaviour to break out of the virtual server environment and into my sacrosanct Mac environment. It's like if the Parallels programmers went out of their way to explicitly facilitate the propagation of viruses from Windows into the host Mac system.
Hmmm, that's an interesting perspective and I certainly understand it. I would point out, however, that Parallels is really a hosting environment and Windows is the guest. In some senses it is a "come as you are" affair. And, as you point out, seeing dialogues during installations seem pretty important to me.
Before cohereance I ran windows on a seperate screen in my multi-desktop environment on my Mac (virtuedesktops)... Now I can run it on the same screen with other Mac applications, however Windows is obnoxious. It has little popup things in the corner that will not go away on their own, windows that steal focus, and programs that run little annoying "helpers" without asking. As a result of this, I now run coheareance on a seperate screen in my multi-desktop setup, so its about the same as running it in a fullscreen without coheareance. Perhaps Parallels could help make the Windows apps more "Mac like?" and force them to conform to UI standards that will not disrupt my work? I still don't think any application has any reason to ever steal focus, other then perhaps low battery warnings. The computer works for me and can wait for me to get around to it, not the other way around. For now, adding an option to make sure no Windows apps can steal the focus would be a good start.
Maybe you want to look at something like an "anti-boss" solution so you can keep all of Windows "hidden" from your view: http://www.vicman.net/lib/antiboss.htm
Of course I don't know which computing tradition you come from, but as a long-time Mac user, I have enjoyed the way I can use the computer on my terms rather than constantly having to babysit it and react to its tantrums. If I'm installing something, it is important in the context of the installation that the installer wants to hear from me, but it's not necessarily important in the context of my day or of the myriad other things I am using the computer for. If the installation is my top priority then I will pay close attention to it or leave it at the front. But if there are other tasks that demand my attention, I will be focusing on those, and I sure don't want Parallels attempting to override my subjective (and therefore inherently authoritative) determination of what's most important to me at any given time. I don't care if the installer barges in front of all the other Windows apps in the OS Window view - I'm not expecting to change Windows' behaviour, and I am accustomed to being annoyed while using it. But if it's going to start disrupting my primary work environment, then I'll have to go back to running it on a separate machine so I can ignore it most of the time.
Actually I did a lot my development work on PowerBooks running VPC, to support both Mac and Windows. Currently I use Entourage, instead of Microsoft Office, but some would say it's still MS so... In any event, when I'm working on the Mac "side" (or with a Windows app via Coherence) I will have "pop ups" from Entourage telling me of incoming mail for instance. I don't find these pop-ups problematic. They give me info and I can ignore them or whatever. I find a number of Windows dialogues just a bit annoying -- "Are you sure?" being one. Yes, I'm almost ALWAYS SURE, or I wouldn't have done whatever. But there have been a few times when that "Are you sure?" had given my a stop point that would have been nice back in the old, hard core Unix days. Perhaps I'm just more accustomed to Windows and so, by and large, it doesn't bother me.
