Further detail on Parallels

In April I wrote about my initial experiences with Parallels. I still think it is an incredible piece of software and allows one to run Windows XP seamlessly (and concurrently!) on the Mac.

When you first install Parallels, consider the following:

• If you have 2 GBytes (or more) of memory on your Mac, install or change Parallels such that you give Windows at least 512 MBytes of memory. It doesn't take long for Windows to use 256 MBytes of memory.
  
• Sit down and estimate your disk requirements for Windows. The default of 8 GBytes may be insufficient, and you won't be able to easily increase the size of the disk drive without software such as Partition Magic. If your Mac has a lot of disk space, then I recommend that you consider allocating say 20 GBytes of disk space to Windows. If you will install a lot of software in Windows (e.g. Visual Studio) then you might go to 30 GBytes or even larger.
  

I have not encountered any software-compatibility problems with Windows-based software running under Parallels. I am periodically using the following: Excel 2003, Project 2003, SQL Server 2005, Visio 2003, and Visual Studio 2005. I sometimes need these tools for my technical work. Note that I run the core Microsoft Office suite on my Mac, and not on Windows.

I now use the new "Coherence" feature of Parallels (I don't think Coherence is a good descriptor of the functionality). Coherence essentially changes your view of Windows/Parallels. By default, you will see your Windows machine as a window on the Mac. Coherence it makes the window disappear and instead you have a Start bar on the bottom (just like on a true Windows machine). It takes a few minutes to get used to, but I love it. Now my windows for Mac stuff and Windows stuff are simply blended together. I can move the windows/applications around and I don't need to switch back to the single view of the Windows machine/session.