Parallels with Leopard: 'a few issues'

Despite some problems, SWsoft, manufacturer of Parallels virtualisation software for Macs and PCs, say that the product is compatible with the new Leopard release of Mac OS X.

Speaking at the MacLive Expo show at Olympia in London last week, Ben Rudolph, communications director for SWsoft, said there were "a few issues" to be fixed with its Parallels virtualisation product for Leopard. These "need to be resolved, but that can be done in a couple of weeks", he said.

Parallels Desktop will work with Leopard now, according to Rudolph, but the company is planning a free software update in the future to address any minor issues.

SWsoft is keen to show that Parallels holds up against competitors such as VMware's Fusion. Rudolph would not accept that the issues that had come to light were a real problem. "They are just minor little things that you get with any new product," he said. "They will be fixed in the next release."

While he would not go into detail about the problem areas, Rudolph enthused about the new features in Leopard. "There are a number of things that will be really good for us and our customers," he said. "It is 64-bit architecture, which is great. The speed is great and stuff like Stacks and Spaces will be really liked."

Stacks is a new feature in Leopard that lets users stack files into small folders so they can be more easily organised, while Spaces lets users set up virtual work spaces.

Rudolph said that virtualisation is making it easier for Microsoft and Apple to work together. "Many organisations will now be running both Apple and Microsoft software together, and, with virtualisation, they can easily move between the two," he added.

While Rudolph accepts that many Mac fans do not like Microsoft, he said that "it would be naive of anyone to believe that they do not accept the need to work together".

SWsoft did not have a stand at MacLive Expo but VMware was there demonstrating its recently launched Fusion virtualisation product, which allows PCs to run Mac software.