#PARALLEL DESKTOP FOR MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION INSTALL#
#PARALLEL DESKTOP FOR MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION WINDOWS 8#
#PARALLEL DESKTOP FOR MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION DOWNLOAD#

#PARALLEL DESKTOP FOR MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION WINDOWS 8#

The right approach would be to use a consistent modifier-key combination to represent the Windows key.Īlso, I was very disappointed to discover that I could not use Apple's gesture-capable hardware in the Windows 8 VM. Some shortcuts add Shift if there's an existing Mac shortcut that would conflict, while others do not it's a guessing game as to whether to hold Shift (and holding Shift when it's not required doesn't work). In Fusion, you use Command-Shift-C for the charms bar and Command-D for the Windows Desktop. For example, on a PC, Windows-C opens the charms bar and Windows-D switches to the Windows Desktop. The shortcuts are not consistent, so using them is more hassle than just sticking to the mouse. I saw no differences running OS X Mountain Lion, and for Windows 8, all I got was a few Windows 8-specific shortcut keys such as to open the charms bar or switch to the Windows Desktop. When you run OS X Mountain Lion or Windows 8 on Fusion 5, you don't get much more than you do running them on Fusion 4.

#PARALLEL DESKTOP FOR MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION INSTALL#

Because Windows 8 is really Windows 7 plus the Metro environment and OS X Mountain Lion is a minor revision to OS X Lion, telling that little fib when you install either OS into a new VM works fine - and saves you the $50 upgrade cost to Fusion 5. You just had to tell Fusion you were running Windows 7 or OS X Lion, respectively. The big selling point is support for Windows 8 and OS X Mountain Lion VMs, but Fusion 4 also supported these OSes as VMs. I'm rethinking that decision with Fusion 5.įirst, there's very little useful in the new version - certainly nothing that justifies the $50 upgrade cost. VMware Fusion 5: Few new features, and not very savvy ones at that Since 2011's version 4, Fusion has been my tool of choice for running Windows on my Mac.

Worse, for both products, this marks the second time in a row their companies have offered pricey minor updates - a behavior that users should not support. Is either worth the $50 upgrade fee? I don't think so. For example, both companies note AirPlay mirroring support as a new feature when, in fact, this OS X Mountain Lion capability requires no changes in an application to support it - anything on your screen is mirrored, no matter how old it is. Worse, both companies' marketing sometimes implies they offer more than they do. For example, both products' previous versions also run on OS X Mountain Lion and support Windows 8 and Mountain Lion clients, if not quite as smoothly as the new versions do. Note that both VMware and Parallels offer enterprise editions that provide the kind of policy management of Windows VMs that IT often imposes on actual Windows PCs.īut if you read the promos carefully, you'll notice not much is actually new. New Fusion licenses also run $50, while new Parallels licenses cost $80. Both cost $50 for an upgrade from a recent version. Both Fusion 5 and Parallels Desktop 8 extend the host support to OS X Mountain Lion and the client VM support to Windows 8 and OS X Mountain Lion.

Those products are VMware's Fusion and Parallels Desktop, which let you run Windows, OS X, Linux, and Chrome OS virtual machines on OS X hosts.

#PARALLEL DESKTOP FOR MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION DOWNLOAD#

26 but available for download by developers and Microsoft partners) come updates to two products that bring the two OSes together. About a month after Apple released OS X Mountain Lion and two weeks after Microsoft finalized Windows 8 (not shipping until Oct. It's a rare year that sees updates to both OS X and Windows, but 2012 marks such an occasion.

Parallel desktop for mac os x mountain lion