12.1 kills ram allocation >8gb for non PRO version?

Discussion in 'Installation and Configuration of Parallels Desktop' started by MacSpanner, Nov 11, 2016.

  1. Steve Reichenbach

    Steve Reichenbach Junior Member

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    I've decided to live with what Parallels offered me: one year of the Pro Edition after which I can continue to use the resource-limited Standard Edition. Because I routinely upgrade, the year of Pro Edition will give me the same functionality to which I've become accustomed and require likely until the next version from Parallels and/or the leading competitor. At that time, I can choose the software product that is the best fit for my utilization. One factor in this is that Parallels now prominently advertises the recently implemented limitation of the Standard Edition, which I see as a spark of responsibility. I still think that Parallels should have restored the full functionality that I purchased in the Standard Edition 12 and believe that not doing so is a mistake of customer relations, but I can tolerate this partial provision. That said, my allegiance to Parallels is down to a thread. If I were to purchase anew right now, I would be a customer of the leading competitor because they support more RAM at a lower price point and the performance reviews indicate little if any reason to prefer Parallels for my requirements.
     
  2. DavidW2

    DavidW2 Bit poster

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    Wow, this is such bad business for Parallels. Removing functionality is not the kind of thing you do in a decimal point upgrade - no company should ever decrease functionality with a free, self installing upgrade. It's sneaky, unfair and a lawyer would no doubt have a field day.

    What they should have done is wait until Parallels 13 is released, then split things into Standard and Pro edition. They can add more features and make Pro more attractive, and offset the blow of limiting CPUs and RAM . In a free upgrade, to suddenly find that your VMs don't work as before, and to suddenly have less functionality than what you originally paid for is an extremely bad business decision. You can't move the goalposts after purchase...

    Please either upgrade my key to restore lost functionality, or provide CLEAR instructions on how to revert to the previous version of Parallels. Pull this trick on a new version 13, which I might or might not upgrade to. For a point upgrade, wow... well, I can only say that I've never seen this behaviour from any other company.
     
  3. jlm72

    jlm72 Bit poster

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    I'm in the same boat as many of you. Had Parallels done this right out of the gate at least we wouldn't have been blind-sided.
     
  4. MacSpanner

    MacSpanner Junior Member

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    13
    Well I have this crippled version of 12.1 now.. no warning that the upgrade was going to cripple my previous abilities.
    How are you going to fix this?
     
  5. EinarN

    EinarN Bit poster

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    How do I send PM in this forum, well hidden feature I must say...?
     
  6. EinarN1

    EinarN1 Bit poster

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    Im not able to find the PM option in this forum (see that others cant either..?)

    So please contact me. We need to solve the problems you guys just caused when silently changing my license, so I no longer can use more then 8GB in my VM.
     
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2016
    JaredW1 likes this.
  7. LongChair

    LongChair Bit poster

    Messages:
    5
    Hello,
    I have been a Paralells customer for a while, and have been mostly happy with it so far.
    This morning i got prompted for an update which I did as usual.
    My bad that i didn't read carefully the release notes, because if had known i'd have never clicked that button.
    I am using it on an I7 iMac to run Linux VMs and was usually using 8 cores and 12 megs of RAM, because those builds are pretty heavy.
    With that new update, now I am limited to 4 cores and 8 gigabytes, which makes this VM useless unless i Subscribe to the Pro Version.
    Changing the Core features and capabilities right in the middle of an update is totally unacceptable. To make it clearer this is not what I purchased in the first place when evaluating and making the decision to choose Parallels.
    At this point i really feel like i have been fooled, and i regret to have made the v12 purchase to update my old v11.
     
  8. LongChair

    LongChair Bit poster

    Messages:
    5
    Same thing, here just updated my 12.0 version to 12.1 and figured out i wasn't able to run my usual VMs using 8 cores and 12Gigs RAM.
    This is totally unnaceptable from a end user point of view. Wether that limitation didn't make it to the initial 12 release cannot be any excuse for gimping users that evaluated and bought v12 with another set of functionality.
    To make it clear, this is simply NOT what i bought in the first place and I am really pissed about Parallels attitude sneaking such an update without any clear notification.
    I cannot either contact Andrew via PM (can't find the option), So please PM me.
     
    JaredW1 likes this.
  9. MarkM7

    MarkM7 Member

    Messages:
    28
    Parallels need to put this right for all users - not just the ones who can PM them.. Come on Parallels do the right thing and remove these restrictions you have introduced !
     
    JaredW1 likes this.
  10. emiko

    emiko Member

    Messages:
    37
    Exactly my point!
    Pro version is for hire only. No permanent license exists.

    I now switched for VMWare Fusion and I'm very happy with it.
    MY SQL database is happily running with 32GB virtual memory :)
    This is what I found so far:

    The negative sides of VMWare:
    1) lack of MAPI mail integration
    2) 32 bit Linux cannot be installed with 64 bit CPU

    But I can live with them since:
    1) I found gmail plugin for Windows (tvhgooglemapi) to handle MAPI
    2) If I really need to install 32bit Linux, I simply fire up VirtualBox (freeware)

    The positive sides of VMWare:
    1) 48 Euro price tag for a personal license (i.e., multiple Mac installation allowed)
    2) very generos 64GB RAM + 16 CPU limit
    3) virtual machine can be run under all other VMWare products for Windows, Linux as well as vSphare hypervisor.

    Saying that, the largest reason I decided to walk away from Parallels was lost confidence in their business practice.
    I cannot entrust my production environment for the software
    which hangs my system and demands a payment during the routine minor version up.
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2016
    JaredW1 likes this.
  11. Nemensi

    Nemensi Member

    Messages:
    73
    This is ridiculous. Imagine you bought a car and in the first service your car service station remove the back seats because the car was not intended to drive more than two persons (as stated in the manual on page 100 and 127). If you want your back seats back you can upgrade to the car's Pro version with back seats included. But then you have to buy a new car every year, otherwise the engine is removed too. This is exactly what Parallels does.

    You offered a trial version with a specific feature set, the customer purchased the full version and after some time you removed some features with a minor update. This is not very customer friendly, I would call this fraud instead.
     
    GregG2, JaredW1, JoelB3 and 1 other person like this.
  12. LongChair

    LongChair Bit poster

    Messages:
    5
    As far as I am concerned, I'll be waiting for Andrew to PM me as he suggested.

    Then I will kindly ask for a licence refund, with which i'll go and buy a VMWare fusion 8.5 Licence that will not have so ridiculous limitations.

    There is no way i will pay for 100$ a year, for a few features that i used to have in v12 when i bought it, which are still available in VMWare for the same price as the non Pro Version, and for which i'd have to pay Yearly at Parrallels.

    Aside the sneaky introduction of these limitations, which were very badly introduced, this makes the Parallels non pro version not competitive anymore compared to VMWare Fusion 8.5.
     
  13. JefersonA

    JefersonA Bit poster

    Messages:
    2
    I have just downgraded do V12.0.2 using Time Machine and it is working fine.
    Andrew Couldn't find how to send MP's here, so, please send a MP because I want to know how Parallels is going to proceed on this issue.
     
  14. BennettB

    BennettB Bit poster

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    I'm not anywhere near as tech savvy- was it difficult to move the Widows license over?
     
  15. JackB2

    JackB2 Bit poster

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    I just learned of another issue with this forced upgrade to Pro if I want to use the number of cpus I had previously used. If I upgrade to the Pro version to fix this issue, I no longer have the option of buying a 1-time license, I'm forced to buy the annual subscription.
     
  16. CraigS4

    CraigS4 Junior Member

    Messages:
    11
    I should also mention that I've been using the SAME VM configuration (6 cores, 12gig memory) for the last three versions, all bought at the same price point. So even if this cripple-ware was supposed to have happened from the major upgrade to 12, it's still switching out a crippled version for what used to be a full version, and I refuse to move over to their subscription plan. (I still use CS6, because Adobe pulled the same stunt.)

    I used VirtualBox for free before buying a Parallels license; and I can certainly go back to them now.

    And, like the others, Andrew@parallels stated that we should PM him 1:1, but I cannot find the link to do so.
     
  17. KeithF2

    KeithF2 Junior Member

    Messages:
    11
    LongChair,
    This exactly what they have done - my company uses a lot of this software and we have a number of users that are now crippled. We have now blocked all further upgrades, and are discussing what further steps we need to do to rectify this situation.

    Extremely unhappy with this bait and switch.
     
  18. HansAST

    HansAST Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    I reverted to that release using Time Machine successfully... Still contemplating annulment of my 12.x purchase, so I can use that money to buy VMWARE...
     
  19. emiko

    emiko Member

    Messages:
    37
    Not at all.
    There is an import functio in VMWare which let you import Parallels VM quite elegantly.

    Just run this command in terminal in your virtual Windows 10 before shut it down normally:
    shutdown /s /t 0

    To open the command line terminal in Windows 10, type
    cmd
    in the Cortana/search window.
    VMWare offers 30 days free trial version with complete functions. Try it before you buy.

    From VMWare help site:
    With a retail license, when you buy Windows from a vendor, the license enables you to change platforms as often as you want. In this case, you can reactivate Windows over the Internet, or by phone with Microsoft Support.

    [Edited]
    Just tested and confirmed that VMs created under Fusion can be opend "as is" in Lynux version of VMWare (Workstation Player).
    It is a wonderful news. Now the next time I have any problem on my MacPro, I can continue my Windows project
    on the Linux desktop I also have. Funny how the negative action by Parallels brought out a very positive future, at least for me.
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2016
    BennettB likes this.
  20. ct2193

    ct2193 Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    I just bought Parallels 12 and the limitation was NOT there when I bought it. I use more than 8GB RAM and more than 4 CPU. On a lighter note, VMWare Fusion 8.5 is available and offering a 40% discount for Parallels customers. And you can use it on 3 computers. It's $79.99 regular price. Hey Parallels, you may have lost several customers. http://store.vmware.com/store/vmwar...?src=WWW_eBIZ_productpage_Fusion_Parallels_US
     
    GregG2 and CraigS4 like this.

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