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Parallels Desktop 16 Brings macOS Big Sur Support, Multi-Touch Gestures, 20% Faster DirectX, and More
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As a long time parallels user, I've found the old version does not magically stop working forcing you to upgrade. I usually upgraded every other year, which costs about $25/year vs $80 for a license. I happen to have a license right now due to a speacial, but probably will revert to upgrading for $50 instead of renewing.
You only lose out if you upgrade MacOS to the point Parallel's stops working, which IIRC is general several versions or so at a minimum; which is at least half of a Mac's supported lifetime.
That all depends on where the market goes. If ARM becomes a viable alternative MS will move there. They've toyed with it using the Surface so it's not like they don 't have some idea of what it would take to move all in on the ARM> If they did that would not mean droping the x86 line either; they'd simply do both and I'd bet they'd work to make it easu for x86 programs to transition to ARM.
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In my personal experience, only the Parallels Toolbox that comes with it (which I thought was a thrown in gimmick) has TONS of utility apps and widgets that have saved me a lot of time already without even looking for it... things like multi history clipboards, drag and drop a video to floating window to convert it to an easy to share mp4 (no need for Handbrake for quick things anymore for me), multi-app launchers, drag a YT or similar video links to download, even has one that does what Magnet does or what a work/take-breaks timer does... without having to hunt down each update if they were to be separate apps and without even looking for them since they just start appearing on the toolbox.
That was definitely a welcoming surprise.
Well developers need to feed their families too. It’s not like the version you own will suddenly stop working.
I'm running v16 on Big Sur beta.
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Perhaps Microsoft would rather take in subscription fees on Cloud PC/Azure cloud Windows virtualization than to offer it natively on ARM. I’m sure they’d love everyone to subscribe
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Yeah, I generally do every-other-year for Parallels updates, plus, if you keep an eye out, there's always cheaper options to buy. Heck, I usually wind up getting offers direct from Parallels for $39, and my last update, I picked up from a split software bundle for $10.
Yep, great post. I guess for "home use", it might seem expensive[?] I use it specifically for development, so it's a requirement (so to speak), and it's pretty trivial relative to the income generated by using it (and just one of several professional related costs that are part of "doing business"). YMMV.
They forget to mention they are at least 20% slower with support for linux distros....Every year something is always 20% faster with Parallels
That's an exaggeration - I've been using Parallels since it came out in 2006, and I've needed a paid upgrade about 3-4 times. Virtualisation software is, by necessity, close-to-the-metal stuff and it's not surprising that it regularly gets broken by MacOS upgrades. Complaints on a postcard to Apple for their insistence on a major, compatibility-breaking MacOS upgrade every year (usually just as they've got the bugs out of last year's version and sensible people are thinking about upgrading).
I also remember using VMWare Workstation on PCs before Intel Macs: ISTR it cost $200-$300: software has dropped significantly in price since those days. If you wan't good-old-days lifetime upgrades you might have to put up with good-old-days software prices.
However, Parallels deserve some of the blame for these complaints - their publicity often gives the impression that you need to upgrade for every MacOS version.
Except they've already produced Windows 10 for ARM. I think you need to go Google "Surface Pro X".
An ARM Mac will only virtualize operating systems built for ARM. ARM Linux is well developed, most of the major open source projects from which Linux is built have been running on ARM for years, and Apple briefly showed an ARM version of Parallels running Debian Linux for ARM in the WWDC keynote video.
Otherwise, the possibilities are:
- Apple or Parallels persuade Microsoft to license Windows 10 for ARM for use in (let's call it) Parallels for ARM. Of course, many people who need Windows on Mac really need x86 Windows, but Win10 ARM has a built-in x86 emulator/translator that might prove faster than (2) below.
- Full emulation (like QEMU or SoftPC/SoftWindows of yore) to run x86 Windows or Linux. That would be a non-trivial development job for Parallels but since QEMU already runs on iPad (in developer mode) it is technically feasible. Performance isn't great, although technology has improved since the SoftWindows days. If you can run Windows for ARM, though, its built-in emulator ought to be faster than 'full' emulation because it's only emulating the app, not the whole operating system.
- Something like WINE that runs windows binaries under MacOS and traps and "translates" the windows system calls - combined with Rosetta to translate the binaries. That's highly speculative - and from what I've seen of WINE even on x86 is that it's great for well-supported & tested applications, not so much for arbitrary apps.
- As already mentioned elsewhere, cloud services where your 'PC' is a subscription service somewhere out in the cloud and you access it via virtual desktop. That is already a "thing" in the corporate world - some enterprising company (such as Parallels) could wrap it up with some Mac OS integration bells and whistles and sell it in a more consumer-friendly package. Although it sticks in my craw a bit, I suspect that this is the future. BTW: if you're about to say "I'll get fired if one byte of my work data touches the cloud" then I bet you an internet that, a few years down the line, that will have been turned on its head and you'll be required to work on a cloud instance managed by whoever your employer contracts out their data protection compliance* to.
I really would like to know how does Parallels finds new technology to make Directx 20% faster each year for the past 10 years and it launches faster each year.
I am not sure if its possible, but if Paralles can run windows on ARM macs, better days are yet to come
I am not sure if its possible, but if Paralles can run windows on ARM macs, better days are yet to come
I'm on Catalina and just upgraded to Parallels 16 and am going to try installing the Big Sur beta now. So far so good. I'll update when it's done as for how it went..
I’ll wait for virtual box to be ‘bug sir’ compatible.. I’m sick of parallels charging me ridiculous fees each year . I could’ve just bought a decent windows machine with the money I’ve wasted on their stupid fees..
Just try any linux distro that is not on a LTS branch.
See your experience when an update comes.
Its so annoying. I have 15, and just hoping it will work on Big Sur. Although I'm just not sure I want to give up OSX for this next version just yet.