Parallels Desktop 10
Offering experimental support for Apple’s upcoming OS X Yosemite, Parallels Desktop has been updated to version 10 with promises of speed enhancements up to 48 percent, up to 10 percent less memory used by virtual machines, and up to 30 percent extended battery life. Along with being able to run the public beta of Yosemite in a virtual machine (yay!), Parallels Desktop 10 enables you to take advantage of many of Yosemite’s announced features, including iCloud Drive, iMessages, and SMS text sharing, at least to the extent that they work now. You’ll also be able to share files, text, or Web pages from Windows using Internet accounts configured on your Mac. The virtualization
software also improves how it stores files on your Mac, with real-time optimization automatically compacting the virtual disk and a Disk Space Wizard that enables you to review and clean up space used by Parallels Desktop and your virtual machines. Additionally, Parallels Desktop for Mac Enterprise Edition has been updated to version 10 with support for enforcing USB device policies and encrypting virtual machines using FileVault.
If you have a license for either Parallels Desktop 8 or 9, you can upgrade to version 10 now for $49.99. If you’re new to Parallels, you’ll have to wait until 26 August 2014 to purchase the full retail version of Parallels Desktop 10 for $79.99 (which is when we suspect a free trial will also be made available). If you purchased and activated a license for Parallels Desktop 9 on or after 1 August 2014, you’re eligible for a free upgrade. ($79.99 new, $49.99 upgrade, $39.99 educational)
Strange but I had to re-activate my Windows XP with Microsoft after installing Parallels 10. It was a nuisance but now seems to work fine. Windows 8 worked without problems. I almost never use either (just some legacy programs) but it is fun to demonstrate Windows running in a window on the Mac.
Oops -- I thought I could upgrade from v.7 but it didn't activate -- haven't found what happens to my $49.95 yet...