After the glowing review in the WSJ of Parallels 8, I assumed that Parallels would have done what you'd expect of a company whose business is based on supporting Windows in a virtual environment. That is, they'd have thoroughly tested both Windows 8 and Office 2013.
I am a small-time Microsoft reseller and we've had access to the release-to-manufacturing versions of Windows 8 since August. And on 10/24 Microsoft made the RTM versions of Office 2013 available. Before that, even the lowest level partners had, along with the public, access to the preview versions. So it's reasonable to assume that Parallels had plenty of time to test its product. They released PD 8 with "support" for Windows 8. It's reasonable to assume that people would use the two together.
But what was a marketing success for Parallels 8 (being featured in the WSJ with a favorable review) will turn to customer disaster when people actually start to use PD 8 with Windows 8 and Office 2013.
The current version of PD 8 (Build 8.0.18305) is an unmitigated disaster with Office 2013 Professional Plus under Windows 8 (both RTM versions.) In a built-from-scratch VM, PD 8 runs Outlook as if it were on a machine from 2001. It crashes. It burns. It doesn't support multiple monitors correctly (really, at all). Trackpad gestures produce random results in the Win8 Start screen. Coherence mode is inchoate.
It's a mess...a complete mess. And Parallels has violated the basic rule of a software company: stating supports for a new version of someone else's product that it doesn't actually support. Other buyers should heed my advice: as wonderful as Win8 and Office 2013 are -- as much as you want to run them on your Mac -- DON'T DO IT WITH PD 8.
Last edited: Oct 30, 2012