Parallels updates its Windows and Linux desktop virtualization application
The renamed app runs eight times faster than the previous version and adds a number of tools from the Desktop for Mac product
Follow @infoworldParallels Inc., perhaps best known for its Mac-based virtualization software, recently renamed and updated its desktop virtualization application for Windows and Linux users. The company claims this new version should be able to run some applications as much as eight times faster than its previous version.
Parallels Desktop 4 for Windows and Linux was released shortly after the company announced a special bundle of Parallels Desktop 4 for Mac, which was aimed at helping customers make the switch from a Windows PC to an OS X Mac computer. This latest version of the Windows and Linux virtualization product takes a lot of the technology and lessons learned from its Mac sibling.
[ Parallels new Mac bundle is designed to help PC Windows users make the transition over to Mac OS X | Parallels Workstation Extreme offers individual graphics cards to multiple virtual machines ]
The new product is an upgrade from the nearly three-year-old Parallels Workstation 2.2. It offers a host of new features that should prove interesting to both personal and small-business PC users. All told, Parallels said there are nearly 70 new features in this release -- what with nearly three years to make up for in the realm of technology, the new product can now make use of some of the latest PC hardware technology on the market. Desktop 4 supports up to eight CPU cores and up to 8GB of memory. As a result, it should be able to handle virtual machines running resource-hungry applications. The new solution also supports advanced Intel virtualization technologies such as EPT, Flex Priority, and VPIDs.
Other new enhancements include:
