OED 2nd ed on Parallels (on iMac leopard) vs VMWare Fusion

[KiernanP]

Hi,

I own Parallels and have been trying to get it (with limited success) to run Win 98 &/or ME on my iMac 24" 3.06ghz. I don't want to run anything Microsoft, but I have a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary 2nd edition ver 2 on CD-ROM which requires Windows. (Since it cost nearly $400 in 2000 obviously it's not just a replaceable dictionary. Yes, they do have a new version 4 which will run natively on the Mac but they want another $295 for that. So I am stuck with running on a virtual machine. )

Any virtual machine that will allow me to run my current Oxford English Dictionary without headaches will have my customer loyalty. Sadly the OED cd-rom also has Cdilla protection which has always been problem with every install on a new machine. But I have managed to get it to work on PCs running Win98, Win ME, Win NT 4, and then via Virtual PC on my Macs. So I was not surprised to get it running on my iMac with Parallels running Win Me, but sadly the video display of Win ME on Parallels is set to only 16 colors so the OED is virtually (no pun intended) unreadable.

So in frustration I tried the download of VMWare and was thrilled to find that it has absolutely no trouble with display resolution running Win ME in True Color and wide screen. No "rub your head and pat your stomach" hacks as we have to do to get Parallels to run Win Me in True Color. No fighting to get Tools to install.

BUT VMWAre will not get past the Cdilla copy protection for the OED at install so I cannot run the OED in VMWare. This isn't a big loss since I do not yet own VMWare and I do own Parallels. It's Parallels that I want to work running Win98 or Win ME. And it doesn't! At least not without a lot of messing around that you do not have to do to run Win ME on VMWare Fusion.

Question/complaint: if VMWare can run Win 98 or ME without their users having to resort to hacks to be able to get a proper display resolution and color, why can't Parallels???? Especially since Virtual PC 3, 4, 5, & 6 could all run Win98 & Me in as high resolution display (AND run the OED no problem despite the headache of its Cdilla data protection). It's not like this has not been done before. Can't Parallels do at least as well as for their users?

 

[estrelnikov]

Please clarify if you were able to run Windows Me in true color under Parallels Desktop? As far as I understood you have already dealt with the support, what was the result?

 

[KiernanP]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply!

No, I cannot run Win ME in True Color. I had this exchange about trying to get Win ME to work: http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?p=375908#post375908

I have read everything on the forums. I did not contact Parallels Support (except through this forum) because I found their disclaimer that says that they don't support Win 98 & ME. Hence my question/complaint: why can't Parallels do as well as VMWare fusion at getting Win ME to work without resorting to the lengthy process given in the thread above. I am taking it on faith that the process might work for someone. Except that it didn't for me.

When I didn't get a reply to the problem I had with the "solution" for getting virtual Tools to work, I though I'd try VMWare Fusion to see if it had the same problems with ME and their virtual tools. No problems. Zero. [Edit: I retract part of this statement--USB devices are not functioning in Win Me event though they show as connected in VMWare Fusion, but the display, color, network connections all else works wonderfully without any tinkering on my part.) Except that my program (a legally purchased OED 2nd ed.) cannot get past copy protection on VMWare Fusion. Sigh. If I could put Parallels & VMWare together, I'd have a working OED!

Right now I'm pretty much fed up with Oxford University Press (for putting the malware C-dilla Safedisc 1 on the OED so that legal users have nothing but problems--but illegal users have circumvented C-Dilla and are sharing the OED through bit torrents--Great way to alienate purchasers, OUP!) and with Parallels for apparently not supporting Win ME. But I will happily apologize to Parallels if they can get Win ME working (without having me spend the next week on the computer following convoluted instructions that may or may not work).

Thanks