PARALLELS BETWEEN MAC AND WINDOWS GETS BETTER

Used to be there were two major platforms in personal computing, namely Windows and Macintosh. Now there's Linux, another strong contender in the ring. Used to be you needed a Mac to run OS X and an Intel-based PC to run Windows and Linux. You still do but the one thing that's really changed in all of this is the Mac since it's now Intel-based. Trouble is that you just can't run Windows on a Mac by popping in a Windows CD. You need some additional software to make that happen. Apple has one of those offerings with its Boot Camp utility. Basically Boot Camp lets you choose to run either the Mac's OS X or Windows just before you start or "boot up" your computer. It's currently free and Apple plans to incorporate Boot Camp into its next iteration of OS X 10.5 also known as Leopard. But actually there's something a lot better out there and it's getting even better.

Parallels Desktop is a utility that lets you run OS X and Windows at the same time. So now you don't have to choose between operating systems at boot time. You can run both of them. So why would you want to do that? Being able to run both OSes at the same time gives you access to a lot more software for starters. Running them simultaneously using Parallels lets you easily and quickly transfer data between them as well.

I don’t know about you but given the choice of having one computer that can run everything out there versus a machine that can only run one platform, well you know which one I'm going to choose. Look, I know that Parallels isn't perfect and it's still got a ways to go before we reach one-platform nirvana but they're definitely on the right track. And now they just released the next version, release candidate 2 that has many new features. And one of them is really amazing.

I have to say that the newest feature to rattle my desktop is Coherence. To understand how really cool this feature is, you first have to understand how the multiple platform desktop usually works. With the Parallels Desktop, you run the Windows platform within a window that sits on the Macintosh desktop. When you click on anything within the Windows window, you're in, well, Windows. When you click on anything outside that window, you are running in the Macintosh environment. But Coherence blurs that distinctive line between the operating systems and does so in a brand new way. Basically, you can run Windows applications directly on the Macintosh desktop background. It's like running Windows without seeing Windows.

If there was ever a way to make it look like you were running one universal operating system that was running everything, Coherence truly gives you that feeling, even though that's not what's really happening. For those of you who use the Mac's Classic ability, it's a good analogy as to what's happening here. In Classic, you are running OS 9 applications but they run directly over the OS X desktop without any layers to distinguish within which operating system they are running. With Coherence, it's the same thing but it's happening with Windows. You may have Outlook running but it looks like it's running in OS X. You really have to see it to believe it. There is Outlook. It's an open Outlook window but it's sitting on the Macintosh desktop. In fact, if it weren't for the open Outlook window, you wouldn't know it's running in Windows! But there it is. It's actually quite strange at first but I'm sure you'll get used to it. In fact, with Coherence in full operation, you may just find
yourself not knowing (or caring) which OS you are in at the moment.  All you will care about is that the job is getting done without you having to do anything special. Just click and do the work. It's just there and you get the job done. It's a thing of beauty.

So now you are using both operating systems at the same time and you don't have to worry about what is running which. It just runs.  Coherence even lets you place Windows applications in the Mac's Dock! Just click on them once to launch. So is it OS X or is it Windows? Only your Coherence knows for sure...

Parallels was amazing enough when it first appeared and it seems like it just keeps on coming from this company. If you're new to all of this, you'll just think that this works like it's supposed to. But the rest of us who have had to battle the OS dichotomy for all these years will be the ones with the most amount of appreciation. As I said, Parallels Desktop isn't perfect yet but if this latest release is any indication of what's to come, multi-OS heaven can't be that far away. $79.99.

www.parallels.com