Unfortunately, as with Fusion, first real tests performed on games have not been really convincing. Only few games exhibits performance levels similar to those experienced with a reboot via Boot Camp. In addition, Vista Aero effect is still not supported, and one will have to wait for a (free) update to come.
Hereafter are the most important new features added in version 3.0 of Parallel virtualization solution (among 50 new ones claimed):
- SmartSelect : Cross OS application & file integration.
- Snapshot : Quickly and easily go back in time to a clean VM state
- Shared printers for cross OS printing
- Significantly enhanced overall performance
If the 3D support is not really working properly, one will have to judge if this update is worth US$49.99, especially for users who have purchased the previous version couple of weeks ago…
On its side, WMWare keeps developing Fusion, and unveiled Unity, a feature similar to Parallel's Coherence mode, but different. If Coherence is rather a hack allowing to hide the windows desktop to see the MAC OSX desktop, WMWare tried to push the concept further by treating Win windows as OSX windows: shadowing of windows, Exposé works perfectly too (animations in Win windows are not stopped!), and as with Coherence, one can minimize Win windows In the dock
Last but not least concerning the installation of Parallels 3.0: If you already have the version 2.x on your computer, make an image of your disk before installing the version 3.0, as it will update the previous version without any way to go back in case of problems.
