If you’re an Apple user, or even a Windows user eager to jump on the Apple van as soon as it has more compatibility with Windows applications, then you’ll be happy to know, that the release candidate for the third version of the very popular Parallels program for the Mac OS X has just been announced.

Most Windows applications are already Mac compatible, thanks to this virtualization software. But the thing that some users seemed to want the most, will now be supported. 3D aceleration with Direct X, and OpenGL, support. Here is the changelog:

• SmartSelect — set your preferred application handlers cross-platform. Want to open URLs in IE7, mailto: links in Mail.app, or .xls files in Excel 2007? You can now.
• 3D acceleration — DirectX and OpenGL support will allow 3D gamers to play Windows games at some modicum of acceptable speed
• Snapshot — back up or roll back your virtual machine
• Parallels Explorer — copy files into or out of your virtual disk images or your Boot Camp partition
• Enhanced Boot Camp support, better USB, better printer sharing, shiny Coherence 2.0

At first I thought that this support would be basic, and only “classic” games would be supported. But then I found this blog, and the writer, talking about how he runs Quake 4 with normal speed with it.

If you already own a version of Parallels, you can upgrade for $39.99 right now, or $49.99 after it’s release, or, you can just purchase it for $79.99. Buying a Mac has never been so tempting as it is now, and it will be hard for some people (like me) to resist not purchasing a Mac computer, until the new ones come out. Oh Apple… please bring Santa Rosa out to play at WWDC.

Related posts:

Parallels 3.0 released
Boot Camp Alternative – Virtualization
Installing Ubuntu in OS X via Parallels
WWDC 2007 ForeverGeek coverage
Convert a Windows System to Dual-Boot Linux

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