I'm sorry Parallels but Fusion is leaving you behind in the dust

Especially after build 4560 I found myself using more and more of Fusion. Fusion's window ACTUALLY remembers its size where I put it.

Most importantly, I discovered that Fusion has absolutely NO incompatibility issues with their DirectX. I can open games, watch quality videos with their DirectX enabled.

I'm sorry Parallels I supported you a long time now. However you're getting blown away.

I think here what's going on: Fusion had less features but they take their time to build their features very solid. Parallels has more features but they don't take their time thus a great deal of their features doesn't work well or simply doesn't work period.

 

Does Fusion respond to email support requests?

To mention VirtualBox, too, that is free, and even though it is beta, it is also pretty solid. Sure, it's got less features but I expect it to catch up within a year.

 

Is Fusion any safer than Parallels? I use Parallels to boot into my Bootcamp partition and am a bit troubled by the fact that Parallels replaces critical Windows system files like HAL.DLL. A "dirty shutdown" of the VM means Parallels gets no chance to replace these files and may leave you with a corrupted Bootcamp partition. Does Fusion do a better job?

 

Well, Parallels is sure wasted money for me! I have spent three more hours this morning trying to re-install XP, and it just went from bad to worse. Too bad. I guess I'll have to try something else!

 

>>> Message has been deleted by the user <<<

 

Fusion does very well with their customer support too. I can post a question on their fourm USUALLY about three hours or less my question is answered very professionally.

Let's remember also that Fusion is a beta until end of August. However their beta is a lot better than Parallels 3.0.

I think that 3.0 is a disaster! Between Parallels FALSE ADVERTISING and their INCOMPATIBILITIES with their DirectX. I just don't like the way Parallels is going.

On the other hand I like where Fusion is going. They actually tell you the truth. They tell you that Fusion only supports 3D games to DirectX 8.1. Oh the truth GEE WHAT A CONCEPT!!!!

 

Just try Fusion for yourself and see if it does a better job for you. Like I said that Fusion still a beta thus it's still free for the public.

 

Go take a look at their forum for Fusion. They are very responsive.

 

You're right.

http://www.vmware.com/community/forum.jspa?forumID=371&start=0

Again, I'm sorry Parallels. HOWEVER it's time for you to shape up or ship out. You could be a great competition for Fusion, BUT UNFORTUNATELY that's just NOT happening so far.

 

I found that if a company has confidence in its product, it usually tells its customer the truth and its product limitations beforehand.

 

Yes, you're indeed right.

 

But let's not completely bash Parallels; this is a Parallels forum, and I'm just glad the thread hasn't been deleted!

Parallels has made an excellent program; they just shouldn't over-sell their products and support, unless they want people to get angry at them.

Having said that, Parallels isn't really horrible, they just don't respond to emails enough and over rate their product. The do offer some free updates, as well, which is nice. Parallels 2.5 is fine for me, except for the need to copy my 20GB hdd image in order to make a backup and the lack of directx.

But now, I am downloading the beta of vmware fusion; I'll see if it's worth switching!

 

I tried fusion.
It has many good things Parallels doesn't: Better directx (but it's still not quiet there with general support)
It's version of Coherence is better.
It has a few very minor nice things about it, like shortcut keys for entering full screen which doesn't make Windows do something.

But, Parallels has its pluses, too, and generally, I feel more comfortable with parallels 2.5 than with parallels 3.0 or fusion, for now.

 

I didn't create this thread to totally bash Parallels. I basically created this thread to light a fire under their butts.

The hash reality is that Parallels is going to be buried by Fusion IF Parallels doesn't change their ways REAL soon.

1. make a less buggy of a product. If that means more time between builds, DO IT.

2. overall better support to their customer.

3. DO NOT LIE TO YOUR CUSTOMERS.

 

I ran Fusion against my brand new Bootcamp partition (had to recreate it because Parallels munged my HAL.DLL) and it worked fine, though so did Parallels before the first dirty shutdown.

Even though Fusion worked fine, it some pretty nasty messages while installing it tools and shutting down for the first time. Also, the first shutdown seemed to take forever. I'll have to see what happens the next time I run it later this evening.

 

It is funny... I've had ZERO problems with 3.0 but I don't use directX games and pretty much for me WinXP is a development environment which is pretty mundane.

I will say that 3.0 feels slower than 2.5 and I know that was pointed out before. However it works and doesn't crash for me.

Does anyone know yet what Fusion will cost?

Parallels just amazes me because if it were not for bad managment (and I really believe the problem comes from the top) the product could have been not only revolutionary but they could have completely locked themselves in as the premier suppliers of virtualization on the Mac.

All it would have taken is:

1) Extreme customer support
2) Business sense to wedge themselves in tight with Apple (IE make it part of the OS)

Had they done that none of us would be "bashing" Parallels in these threads. It is truly a shame when a company cannot figure out customer support.

M

 

Fusion cost exactly the same as Parallels, $79.99. However you can pre-order it for $39.99.

 

I'm walking away from it too, Steve. Too many lingering problems, chronically poor support, loads of gimicky features rather than corrections to critical problems, and the trend has has not shown any improvement in any important category. I no longer feel I can justify my time and effort with this team and their stagnating product. I'm even scrapping the Parallels book I've been writing as I don't like the thought of hanging my name on this product.

 

That's too bad Dennis. Remember you and I were totally pro Parallels for a long time.

I'm planning to get Parallels 3.5 just to see if they fix any important problems. However I'll be DAMNED if I'll spend a penny more for Parallels 4.0 if this company doesn't change its ways VERY SOON!

 

Wow! Two senior members defecting.