comparing Parallels, VMware, and versions, new user

Hello new friends,
I'm Joe. When I was younger, I had both Parallels and VMware just a few years ago. Was not happy with either. :-(
However, things may change. Today, I am an engineering student at a New England university, and a small business owner.
In checking the Parallels website, some things are clear. The student version of Parallels is a purposefully crippled lesser product, NOT a true educational discount. Shame! That's one strike.
To be clear, this is asking politely to best evaluate a product for possible subscription and a lifetime stream of recurring payments. One must choose carefully.
The website is purposefully designed to prevent any pre-purchase interaction, such as this, from a non-customer or possible future customer. This does give a negative initial impression. So one must ask in the "forums." Hum.
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One thing I MUST have is "smart card" or "CAC-card" reader capability for muh company.
So a polite question in comparison of the full-priced "Pro" versus the "business" editions, which are offered for the very same price: Do BOTH versions, "pro" and "business" have smart/CAC-card capability, please? They both cost $100/year. It's ONE question. ['yes,' 'no,' details welcome]
Next/last question: If I were to buy "business" and install on two Macs, what is the price per year?
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I really do not wish to go through all the hassle and drama of a purchase, only to be disappointed again and then further drudgery of the refund and cancellation process, which many companies deliberately make as painful and unpleasant as possible.
To be super-clear, the evaluation of any product and/or company is often somewhat based upon their respective support experience and, well, just ease of communication and perceived honesty.
If a polite yet relevant question is already quite difficult to ask and then given a legalistic or evasive non-response, then strike two.
One hopes for a one round trip experience that is fully responsive to the actual question asked with a friendly, even kind answer.
Skeptically, Joe

 

I'm experiencing difficulty with even asking about Parallels! If there is a prohibition that my post somehow has triggered, it would be appreciated to hear directly (in private) from a moderator. There is that alert thingy. Most of all, I respect forthright and direct communication.
It has been a few years since my last experience with Parallels. Show me how it/you have improved by your responsive answer(s) to my politely posed and relevant questions. Thanks! - Joe

 

I'm not sure what the issue is here. There is a free trial of the Professional version and if you like it the cost is $99/yr. Given the benefits this isn't unreasonable, and you can of course try a Free Trial before deciding to purchase, so there is no risk in trying this out and seeing if it meets your needs.

The biggest issue for most of us is the timing of Windows 11 becomes available as a standard product on the M1 Macs. At present it is only available as a Insider Preview Edition, so change is more frequent and so Windows itself is less suited for a production environment.

 

I have decided upon VMware. Clearly, there is no way to ever learn before purchase if the necessary feature is offered. Question: Got smart card/CAC-card? We Don't Care. Response: Just share your personal and financial info with a Russian company and find out. That's a great experience to make my decision easy. No thanks to Parallels! It was given a fair chance. Even a simple yes/no question was too much.