Parallels 3.0 => Effort to snag $ before Leopard?

B

bkingbking

Junior Member
I rolled the dice to the tune of $40 hoping that version 3.0 would be better. I have not installed any newer builds after the initial install because the risk and pain was too much.

Since buying the upgrade yesterday, I've received four emails -- count 'em, four -- but no link or clear communications about how to download the software. Then it dawned on me that I may have been duped. Parallels is trying to lock in some revenue before Apple possibly announces VM support in Leopard at the end of June. The Parallels software isn't ready yet.

Anyone else get that same sinking feeling?
 
It's obvious that they rushed broken software out the door. It's not clear why they did it, or why they used such bald-faced false advertising to sell a defective product. Up until now, Parallels has seemed like a pretty solid/honest company, but 3.0 borders on fraudulence. Perhaps they are scared of Leopard or VMWare, perhaps they should be scared - if they keep treating their customers this shabbily, they won't have much of a client-base left before long.
 
You can downoad the software by going to http://www.parallels.com/en/download/desktop/

As for the quality of the software, I'm having issues, but (so far) nothing as severe as those others are seeing. And with regard to their customer service, they could use quite a bit of improvement. My experience with them over the past year has been that they are not as responsive as they should be, and not always particularly helpful.

I'm still a satisfied customer... wish I could say I was a THRILLED customer.

If this will run Civilization IV (so I don't have to re-purchase it for Mac) it will make me a bit happier :-)
 
bkingbking said:
Since buying the upgrade yesterday, I've received four emails -- count 'em, four -- but no link or clear communications about how to download the software
Click to expand...

Same here: I received an email and checked out the website and couldn't find a link to download the software. Someone on the forum posted a link to a possible download page that says "this offer expires on June 6th" and it was already June 7th.

An email to info@parallels went unanswered. My post to the forum didn't get a response.

Oh and I keep on getting bugged to enter in a real validation key on my older version of Parallels, the one that I paid for and previously entered in a working key.
 
The download link is where the download link has always been since this product was first released early last year. At the top of this screen, and at the top of every screen on this web site. The newest publicly available version is always found there.
 
bkingbking said:
I rolled the dice to the tune of $40 hoping that version 3.0 would be better. I have not installed any newer builds after the initial install because the risk and pain was too much.

Since buying the upgrade yesterday, I've received four emails -- count 'em, four -- but no link or clear communications about how to download the software. Then it dawned on me that I may have been duped. Parallels is trying to lock in some revenue before Apple possibly announces VM support in Leopard at the end of June. The Parallels software isn't ready yet.

Anyone else get that same sinking feeling?
Click to expand...

The developers convention is next week, so if Apple does make an announcment, it'll be very soon. Why not just get a trial key? It will last 15 days, giving you a bit of time to see if either Apple or VMWare make a statement next week.

:cool:
 
dkp said:
The download link is where the download link has always been since this product was first released early last year. At the top of this screen, and at the top of every screen on this web site. The newest publicly available version is always found there.
Click to expand...

exactly what I was thinking :p

I'm amazed at how whiny people are these days...if it werent for these bugs, they would look for something else to cry about.

Quite frankly, I'm using 3.0 and loving it. Works great in my opinion...easily worth the $40. It's a drop in the bucket compared to what I spent on Office 2007 Ultimate :o

Even if apple announces virtualization support built in, we wont see it for how long? I'd rather use this stuff NOW - not 6 months from now.
 
First test a failure

My first game test was a failure. I tried to run NCSoft's Dungeon Runners and it will not launch. It gives an error while trying to create textures and suggests I add the line

[Display]
Pipeline = VPFP

To the user.cfg file. Doing this makes not difference though. I get the same error.

This is the second significant disappointment I have had with Parallels. The first was trying to load Ubuntu 7.0.4 on the previous version. Hopefully that will work cleanly now.

I am beginning to wonder why they rushed this out as well. It can't be VMWare pressure as they are still beta. It pretty much has to be the next version of OS X that has them on the run.
 
When Micro$oft bought up the only Mac Windows emulation program and hiked the price to $250 there might have been a compelling reason for Apple to include a built-in-to-the-OS alternative. I say they have far less reason to do so now, with SO many ways to run OS X and Windows on Apple computers. Besides, Boot Camp gives them all the cover they need, and that has already been announced as one of the features of Mac OS X 10.5. I'm guessing there will be PLENTY of other secret Leopard WOW features unveiled during Steve's keynote on Monday to keep everybody happy.
 
So I spoke too soon. Dungeon Runners gets up and running but the textures do not all load and the performance is only a few frames a second (MBP 2.16 core duo w/2gb ram and ATI 1600).

I will keep poking at it and start a different thread on how it turns out.
 
Presumably because the previous version didn't have that feature. It seems quite a lot of people thought it was on by default, leading me to think that Parallels should have made a note of this on the upgrade popup window you see when upgrading from older VM profile.
 
dkp said:
The download link is where the download link has always been since this product was first released early last year. At the top of this screen, and at the top of every screen on this web site. The newest publicly available version is always found there.
Click to expand...

Is that link to 3.0 or to the most recent build prior to 3.0? And is newest publicly available version final or beta? The fact that I'm asking thease questions -- as are many others -- hardly qualifies as whining as some have intoned.

Parallels (the company) has been nothing short of pathetic with respect to clear communications and adequate support. Parallels (the product) has been adequate once you get it working, which is no mean feat given the poor directions and support.

I searched the Quick Start Guide (for what I'm presuming is 3.0) for the term "upgrade" and could not find any. Scanning the Guide gives the impression that I must reinstall Windows and thus all my Windows apps. Can you upgrade from 2.x to 3.0 without having to reinstall Windows et al (except for Tools)?
 
You want build 4124. If you have ever updated from one build to another this one updates just the same way, except it asks you for a new authentication key. You will either need a new Version 3 free 2 week trial key or if (lucky you) you actually have received your permanent version 3 upgrade key, use that one.

You don't have to reinstall Windows, but you SHOULD make a backup of your VM BEFORE you run the upgrade package. Once you have upgraded you can NOT go back to version 2.5 unless you backed up your VM before you ran the 3.0 upgrade.
 
bkingbking said:
Is that link to 3.0 or to the most recent build prior to 3.0? And is newest publicly available version final or beta? The fact that I'm asking thease questions -- as are many others -- hardly qualifies as whining as some have intoned.

Parallels (the company) has been nothing short of pathetic with respect to clear communications and adequate support. Parallels (the product) has been adequate once you get it working, which is no mean feat given the poor directions and support.

I searched the Quick Start Guide (for what I'm presuming is 3.0) for the term "upgrade" and could not find any. Scanning the Guide gives the impression that I must reinstall Windows and thus all my Windows apps. Can you upgrade from 2.x to 3.0 without having to reinstall Windows et al (except for Tools)?
Click to expand...

That link is *always* the newest released code. Any other code you find is either older, or has not been released for the public. An unscrupulous beta tester may plant a newer beta release somewhere, but that is not an approved for the public version. Always trust the download link here, or a link you may receive from support as part of a debugging process. None else.
 
bkingbking said:
I rolled the dice to the tune of $40 hoping that version 3.0 would be better. I have not installed any newer builds after the initial install because the risk and pain was too much.

Since buying the upgrade yesterday, I've received four emails -- count 'em, four -- but no link or clear communications about how to download the software. Then it dawned on me that I may have been duped. Parallels is trying to lock in some revenue before Apple possibly announces VM support in Leopard at the end of June. The Parallels software isn't ready yet.

Anyone else get that same sinking feeling?
Click to expand...

I thinks its a great buy as for Apple getting into creating a VM I really dont think so. Im sure they just want to have 3.0 ready for the conference thats all. You will have to agree that parallels has come a far way and fusion has some work that need to be done to it. Just look its still in beta they dont even have a RC yet. If anything Apple would buy parallels but thats my 2 cents right. Is it a surprise that VM released a new build around the same time parallels did 3.0? Yea I know total surprise. If Leapord does have a VM then I will be very surprised and it would make me feel like I was going backward because I think parallels is by far the most developed out of the 2 on the market.
 
I don't Apple is interested in doing VM otherwise they would not be producing boot camp.

I do think that parallels rush this out to keep ahead of vmware. While Fusion is still in beta its feature list,, performance and stability seem to be ahead of parallels.

I too purchased the upgrade but based upon the feedback on this forum I'm holding off. In fact I'm not comparing parallels 2.5 to beta 4 of fusion. So far fusion is fast and seems to be stable. Something that build 3188 cannot claim (unfortunately). I use parallels every day for work and a couple times a week it just crashes. The speed is satisfactory but stability is crucial. If stability continues to be an issue with version 3 and fusion continues to show that it is stable they'll not only lose a customer but many customers.

I'll hold off final judgement until the first bug fix comes out, hopefully within a few weeks.
 
snodman said:
You want build 4124. If you have ever updated from one build to another this one updates just the same way, except it asks you for a new authentication key. You will either need a new Version 3 free 2 week trial key or if (lucky you) you actually have received your permanent version 3 upgrade key, use that one.

You don't have to reinstall Windows, but you SHOULD make a backup of your VM BEFORE you run the upgrade package. Once you have upgraded you can NOT go back to version 2.5 unless you backed up your VM before you ran the 3.0 upgrade.
Click to expand...

Thanks, snodman. Pardon my obstinance/ignorance, but is build 4124 the most recent GA for 2.x, GA for 3.0, or beta for 3.0? If it's not the GA for 3.0, any idea/rumor as to the GA date?

Much obliged.
 
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