Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac review

Updates to the popular Parallels Desktop visualization program generally coincide with new versions of the Mac operating system, so it's no surprise to see that Parallels Desktop 11 arrives just a few weeks ahead of Apple's new OS X v10.11 -- a.k.a. El Capitan. But, of course, this year's update also follows the recent arrival of Windows 10, which means that Parallels Desktop 11 is a fairly major update that provides support for both of these new operating systems.

Hey Cortana, where's Siri?

You can use Cortana running in a virtual machine even when using native Mac apps.

The most impressive aspect of Parallels Desktop 11 is not simply that it allows you to run Windows as a virtual machine (VM) on the Mac (along with various versions of Unix, and even Android and ChromeOS too), but that it continues to integrate the Mac and Windows environments so that features from each operating system become almost interchangeable.

One of the headline features in Windows 10 is Cortana, the 'personal assistant' that lets you use voice commands to find information on the web, send messages and perform a variety of other tasks. Cortana is often compared to Apple's Siri, but Siri is currently only available on Apple's iOS devices and doesn't run on the Mac. Parallels Desktop 11 therefore pulls off quite a trick by allowing Cortana to not only run within a Windows 10 virtual machine, but also to run with the VM hidden or running in the background while you work in native Mac apps. So, while I'm typing this review in Apple's Pages word-processor, I can say "Hey Cortana - schedule a meeting". The Cortana window then pops up from the Dock on the Mac desktop and lists options for my meeting.

OS integration

The Mac's QuickLook preview option now works with Windows files too. Other examples of this OS integration include the Mac's QuickLook option, which now works within Windows too, allowing you to preview documents stored on a Windows virtual machine just by hitting the space bar on your keyboard.

Pros

• Runs Windows and Linux VMs on Macs
• Tight integration of Windows and Mac features
• Improved performance and battery life
• Supports Windows 10 and OS X El Capitan

Cons

• Requires plenty of memory and processor power
• Poor documentation for newcomers

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Welcome to the new Windows On Mac site

 

The last couple days I have had a large number of people asking me exactly what this new website will entail and what exactly is it's purpose. I will try to answer a few of the most common questions that I've been asked.

The new Windows On Mac website will be about everything that has to do with running your favorite Windows applications or games on Mac. Thus far I have accomplished allot of the things necessary to launch the site but a few items still remain and I continue to work on the the missing parts needed to do a full launch.

The site will cover commercial, shareware and open source solutions for Mac users to run Windows applications on their Mac, Tablet or iOS cellphone.

Some of the software and SaaS solutions include

• Wine from winehq.org and  PlayOnMac from www.playonmac.com as the open source solutions.
• Parallels Desktop from Parallels Inc as a commercial solution.
• CodeWeavers CrossOver Mac as a commercial solution.
• VMware Fusion from VMware Inc as a commercial solution.
• Citrix Desktop Player from Citric Inc as a high quality Saas solution.

This is not a exclusive list but only a sample of the product offerings that will be available. So if you need a open source or commercial solution you will easily be able to find it here to meet every need that you could possibly come across.

This site will be a place for information from the single at home user, small business up to corporate solutions. the site will provide news and updates about each product with the commercial solutions offering discounts and promotions off their normal retail pricing.

Be sure to check back soon for further updates...

Cheers,