Been using Parallels Desktop for Mac since at least v3 ... currently running v5. I held back on v6, as it seemed as soon as I bought an upgrade, there was a new paid version shortly thereafter. Now that Lion will require at least the latest version of v6, I'm questioning whether now is a good time to purchase a v6 license ... or if it is best to wait for V7. Since, v6 is going on 11 months old, I don't want to be faced with 2 purchases in a short period of time. Any idea on the roadmap for Parallels Desktop 7 ?
Well I never thought of that when purchasing it. I think v6 is working just fine now, for Snow Leopard at least. Does Parallels practice free upgrade like Apple did for the Lion?
Dear Parallels Desktop Users, We do not have any information available regarding the Parallels Desktop 7 release and requirements for the free upgrade to version 7. Please check for updates at parallels.com
i am waiting the v7 too.i am sure that if i bye the v6 now, v7 comes in one month time and i cant update anymore
I don't think it would be a big surprise if we see PD7 in a month or two. It would fit their normal release schedule quite well and while v6 has basic support for Lion, it doesn't use any of the new features like the full screen support and so on. That said, haven't Parallels made late customers of earlier version to get the new one for free? Still ofc, with nothing official it would be a bit of a gamble.
Parallels Ad in Macworld October issue (today) On the inside cover of the latest Macworld mag, Oct 2011 edition, is an ad for Parallels Desktop 7 fo Mac. No real details to distinguish it from version 6.
Just watched Walt Mossberg's review of PD 7 - according to Walt, PD 7 upgrade for existing users will go on sale tomorrow. I'm eagerly awaiting ...
Just got the announcement email a little while ago. Alas, it appears antialiasing missed the cut again. When are we going to get it? Ever?
Get back to me when the upgrade is $29 The upgrade price is obnoxious, I can buy 6 cheaper and get a free upgrade on that copy.
I agree - I upgraded in June 2011 - 3 months ago - and I'm being asked to pay again for another upgrade. It's a really good incentive for people to get ripped-off copies. And I've been a user of Parallels for mac almost since it appeared on the scene. This is how long-term users get treated. For all that I use it I might try the free version from Sun.
Indeed, Parallels upgrades has been a real annoyance for me for quite some time. Which is the reason I didn't upgrade to PD6 until now in august for the Lion support. For me I guess I'm lucky as this means I get a free upgrade to 7, but I still think they are overcharging for the upgrades and not a good way to treat loyal customers, especially since they upgrade to new "major" version once a year.
We may have a keeper Despite the upgrade price (which truly is too high), I took the leap - primarily due to the issues with PD6 (Win guest BSODs nearly daily ... never had the issue with PD5) ... installation was smooth, upon starting each guest the PD tools were auto-installed, then guest reboots. So far, so good - I'm "feeling" some serious improvement in guest speed, lower host CPU usage. Time will tell on the BSOD issues, however we may have a keeper here. Ken
Parallels Business Model: 1 - Ignore problems with current version. 2 - Get cash for upgrades that customers wrongly assume (usually) will fix problem with current version. I too upgraded from 5 to 6 just a three months ago. The upgrade to 6 did not seem to address any issues I was having with 5 and expect 7 to be the same. Almost all improvements seem to be oriented to Windows guests. I am sure this makes sense market-wise but I wish Parallels would spend some money improving Linux guest and Linux graphics performance as well.
And they really seemed to aggressively market and push the upgrade to 6 for Lion support. Then once they maximize the Lion cash, they release Parallels 7 a month later. Makes me angry.
It might be a different scene if they had some true competition - I was a VMWare Fusion user for quite some time before coming over to Parallels ~PD4 time frame. VMWare seems to have lost interest in the Fusion product - if they could give Parallels a real run for the money, I'd imagine that both pricing and quality of product would improve greatly.
No Joy Well, despite my hopes otherwise it appears that the same Windows guest BSOD issue exists in PD7. To recap, the issue affects some Windows guests configured to use more than 1 CPU - I've previously discussed the issue with PD support ... their fix/recommendation was to set the guests to use only 1 CPU. Unfortunately using only a single CPU within Windows guests used specifically for development (Visual Studio, SQL Server, etc.) just isn't practical ... they slow to a crawl. Parallels: We SERIOUSLY need to have this issue resolved - it's been present since the introduction of PD6 ... enough is enough! My host is a Mac Pro dual Xeon Quad Core (8 cores total) with 32GB of RAM and 10K RPM VelociRaptor drives ... so I'm definitely not hurting for power and/or resources on the host side of things. Ken
Same experience here. Fusion seemed to have generated competition and improvements in both products for awhile. I get the impression Parallels has lost interest in PD development as well. I see them doing minimal PD development while using PD as a cash cow with minor improvements masquerading as full version upgrades. I wonder if this means VirtualBox has improved in the past year or so under OS X hosts?
I bought Version 6 just a month or so ago. Now I get this email to buy version 7 a week before released to public for $49 bucks! Are you kidding? I guess its my bad luck but I was forced into version 6 upgrading to Lion. So now I will have to decide if version 7 is worth it I guess. After spending money on Windows 7 which is the only OS that will run on Bootcamp with Lion. Then buying version 6 of Parallels because version 5 won't run in Lion. I am thinking I should have just bought a Netbook to do what little I do with Windows. Or at the very least just used Bootcamp alone and skipped Parallels.
