Typical Parallels Upgrade Process?

D

DanieC

Bit poster
Hi,

I'm like a year new into using Parallels. I was a windows user using VMPlayer last year. I switched to Mac last year and bought Parallels 7. I was very happy that it could convert most of my VMs from VMware to Parallels. When Parallels 8 came out I bought the upgrade. Now Parallels 9 comes out. From my point of view, I haven't even had Parallels for a year and 2 upgrades are released. Is this typical for Parallels? Or is this typical of Mac software? I honestly don't remember upgrading VMWare Player that often in the years I've had it. I am wondering now if I made the right choice to switch. I hope VMware on Mac (Fusion allows me to transfer my VMs over!) I was happy to hear that Parallels 8 does work with Maverick so I am not forced to upgrade. Though I'm heavily considering switching back to VMWare now. :( Any thoughts from long term Parallel users?

Thanks,
 
Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion, both, release a new version ever year, this is not specific of the Mac Software ecosystem, Windows is similar too (see Microsoft Office, Adobe CS, Autodesk Autocad...) in the sense that we are moving to a software landscape that updates more often.

But you don't need to upgrade unless there are features you need in the new version, and as you said PDM 8 works in Mavericks.

And by the way, VMWare Player (not Player Plus) is a free application with limited functionality cannot really be compared to Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion in terms of update cycle, and it does get updated often, but it doesn't matter since you don't have to pay for it.
 
As for VMWare Player release cycle, since 2011 that it also has an yearly release cycle:

[TABLE="class: wikitable"]
[TR]
[TH="bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]Major Version[/TH]
[TH="bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]Release Date[/TH]
[TH="bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]Significant Changes[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #FA8072"]1.0[/TD]
[TD]6 June 2008[/TD]
[TD]first released[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #FA8072"]2.0[/TD]
[TD]28 August 2008[/TD]
[TD]?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #FA8072"]2.5[/TD]
[TD]6 October 2008[/TD]
[TD]?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #FA8072"]3.0[/TD]
[TD]27 October 2009[/TD]
[TD]?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #FA8072"]3.1[/TD]
[TD]25 May 2010[/TD]
[TD]?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #FA8072"]4.0[/TD]
[TD]4 October 2011[/TD]
[TD]?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #A0E75A"]5.0[/TD]
[TD]22 August 2012[/TD]
[TD]
  • Windows 8 support
  • New User Interface
  • OpenGL 2.1 for Linux Virtual Machines
  • SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Support for Windows 8
  • Ability to run Restricted Virtual Machines
  • Commercial license included with Fusion 5 Professional
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #A0E75A"]6.0[/TD]
[TD]3 September 2013[/TD]
[TD]
  • Windows 8.1 support
  • Limitation of four virtual cores removed, can now start with six or eight virtual cores
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMware_Player
 
Specimen said:
But you don't need to upgrade unless there are features you need in the new version, and as you said PDM 8 works in Mavericks.
Click to expand...
This statement is not accurate. I have Parallels Desktop 7 running Windows 7 and do not care about any of the new features of PD8 or PD9, but if I upgrade to the current dot-release upgrade from OSX 10.8.5 to v10.9 (referred to as Mavericks), my PD7 will stop working altogether.
 
Last edited:
CT-Scott said:
This statement is not accurate. I have Parallels Desktop 7 running Windows 7 and do not care about any of the new features of PD8 or PD9, but if I upgrade to the current dot-release upgrade of OSX PD7 will stop working altogether.
Click to expand...

Yes, it is accurate. I'm sorry if it wasn't clear that I was specifically comparing PDM8 with PDM9, but I thought the context of the thread in itself would be sufficient (user was considering the need to buy PDM9 having PDM8).

But, If you want to include all past versions (unsupported) into the mix, thou, then it would make more sense to consider compatibility with specific OS X versions also a feature to take into consideration, and as such the sentence will still be accurate.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi,

Thank you for the reply. I think I missed the free upgrade window last year when I bought parallels so the following upgrade came close together(within a year easy) in my mind. I am concerned, but do understand the problems with supporting previous releases, but hearing that Parallels 7 does not work with Mavericks is not good.

I am kinda kicking myself now though for upgrading to 8, I should have waited and just upgraded to 9 instead. It seems odd Parallels would strand the Parallels 7 users. Maybe they should give a discounted upgrade for them to Parallels 8. Of course then I would really be kicking myself :)

Thanks
 
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