We first brought you the Parallels Desktop 8 announcement last week, and although the creators of the desktop virtualization software - Parallels Inc. - has already stated the eight edition will be arriving on September 4th, it is now available as an upgrade for those running Parallels Desktop 7.
If you happened to have saved up all of your hard earned dollars in order to eventually get rid of your virus magnet Windows-based PC and move across to a gorgeous but rather expensive OS X toting Mac, hoping to never worry about malware or viruses again, then it may be time to update your views and stop listening to internet chatter about how Macs can never get infections.
Mac users are happy to accept the changes which Apple make and deem necessary in order to provide us with a great experience when using their hardware and software products. Deep down we don't always agree with them, especially when upgrading from an older version of iOS or OS X, only to find one of your favorite features being removed, but we live it due to our faith and belief that the experts know what they are doing. On the other hand, some people can't live with it. They see it as a company flexing their corporate muscle to force their will upon us.
Although Windows is still considerably ahead of OS X when it comes to total consumer reach, it's a fact that more and more people are running on a Mac, and there are plenty of people out there who require both operating systems, such as app developers.
Less than a month after releasing OS X Mountain Lion to the public via the Mac App Store, Apple has updated its desktop operating system bringing an array of minor bug fixes. Despite selling over two million copies in the first 48 hours alone, the very first iteration has had a couple of minor issues, as is nearly always the case with an initial release.
Although the iOS App Store is overflowing with apps for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, the Mac equivalent doesn't have nearly as many apps living within it, meaning OS X users have significantly less choice when it comes to extending the functionality of their machines. With that said, I tend to find that my personal taste of OS X apps come in two forms, either extremely simple creations or apps that actually go all out and provide fantastic functionality that makes my life a lot easier. An example of the former is Live Wallpaper that offers dynamic backgrounds and an example of the latter is Xcode or Pixelmator that offer grunt and power.
Although the Mac App Store is still relatively in its infancy, it is already home to a large array of fantastic and powerful apps, all located in one central hub. Working in a similar fashion to the iOS variant, the dedicated store for OS X based apps is broken down into different categories and makes it extremely easy to sift through free and chargeable apps that may make our day to day Mac usage more productive or just a lot more fun and engaging.
If you can bring yourself to look past the fact that you have just spent a whole heap of money on excellent Apple hardware to run OS X, then it actually makes sense to be able to install a version of Windows alongside the default operating system. This is especially true when we consider the new Retina MacBook Pro and those who want to use PC software or games in the full 2880 x 1800 resolution.
A significant refresh of the Mac Pro was expected to arrive at WWDC '12, but the speculation never reached fruition, and the somewhat neglected device still pines for its first changes since 2009. Intel's long-awaited Ivy Bridge chip finally reached the Cupertino company's famed MacBook range at the annual developers conference, and both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro were grateful recipients. Meanwhile, Apple also introduced the first MacBook Pro to ditch the optical drive while also including a beautiful Retina display, and we took this as a sure sign of things to come.
The introduction of the Retina-ready MacBook Pro was a fantastic achievement for Apple and represented a huge step forward for the Mac line of computers as Apple continue to develop both the hardware and software of their increasingly popular notebooks. The company is rightly proud of what they have achieved with the initial release of the MacBook Pro with Retina display, and pride themselves on being the first to market a notebook that features a display with 5.1 million pixels and a monstrous 2880 x 1800 screen resolution.
