Windows-on-a-Mac tech ready to be unleashed

Parallels, a start-up whose software enables Macs to run Microsoft Windows and the Mac OS at the same time, says it is ready with a final version of its product.

Apple made headlines back in April when it said it would offer its own software - Boot Camp - for loading Windows onto Macs. However, Boot Camp permits people to run only one operating system at a time, meaning either Windows or the Mac OS can be in use but not both at once.

Around the same time, Parallels started testing for its Parallels Desktop program, which uses virtualisation technology to have Windows programs operate alongside Mac applications. The Windows programs open in a separate window within the Mac OS.

Unlike past software that allowed Windows programs to run on a Mac, Parallels Desktop does not need to emulate the hardware that's inside a PC. That's because Macs and PCs now use the same Intel-based chips. As a result, the speed of Parallels is far better than past efforts at bringing together the two operating systems, the software start-up said. In fact, Parallels says Windows programs can run nearly as fast through its virtualisation as running natively on a Windows PC.

Parallels marketing manager Ben Rudolph said: "The difference in performance between Parallels and Boot Camp is negligible. Things move very, very fast."

Being able to run Windows programs is seen as a potentially significant catalyst for Mac sales. Needham analyst Charlie Wolf upgraded Apple's stock on Tuesday, saying the combination of Boot Camp and programs such as Parallels could help the Mac-maker gain market share.

Wolf wrote in a report: "The trigger for our upgrade is the prospect that a significant number of Windows users will switch to a Mac once it's able to run Windows applications." He cited a survey by his company, which found that in the US, some eight per cent of home PC owners would switch to a Mac if it could run Windows. "An increase of this magnitude would almost triple Apple's share in the home market and increase it 75 per cent worldwide," Wolf wrote.

The Parallels software has been in testing since April, and more than 100,000 people have trialled it, according to the company. Interest has come not only from hobbyists eager to try out Microsoft's operating system on their Mac at home but also from governments, businesses and schools that want to have their Macs better able to converse in a Windows-dominated world.

Canada's University of Waterloo, for example, has been testing Parallels software. It plans to use it in the Mac lab of its environmental studies department so students can benefit from a number of programs that aren't available for Apple machines.

"I've been very impressed with the performance of it," said Don Duff-McCracken, a graphics and computer-aided design systems manager at the university. He compared applications in Parallels with the same ones running directly in Windows via Boot Camp. The performance in Parallels was within one to two per cent of the other, he said. And both Mac-based options were faster than some recently acquired Dell machines the school had.

He said: "It's running this sophisticated software at native speeds."

Parallels plans to eventually charge $79 for its software, though it is selling it for $49 for the next 30 days. It has been offering it for $10 less than that for beta testers who pre-ordered the final version.

A potential challenge for the start-up is that Apple may decide to offer, in addition to Boot Camp, a feature that acts more like Parallels in allowing Windows programs to run within the Mac OS. There has been speculation that Leopard might have such abilities.

Rudolph said Parallels can't spend its time worrying about what others might do.

He said: "All we do is virtualisation. Apple has got hundreds of different products. I believe we are going to have a faster, better solution regardless of what happens."

Ina Fried writes for CNET News.com