By James Hanback The 1980s home computing graphics technology was improved and paved way for the early 90s. Sierra On-Line’s animated graphical adventure worlds became more detailed and artistically rendered. The first King’s Quest was released in 1990. Color Graphics Adapter technology (CGA), had been replaced by Enhanced Graphics Adapter technology (EGA). EGA was replaced by Video Graphics Array technology in the early 1990s. A higher level of detail was possible for gamers with more pixels and more colors. VGA graphics were so much better than previous display technologies, Sierra actually rereleased some of their classic games with updated graphics. Instead of using keyboard commands to interact with the game’s features, you can use the mouse to select icons and tools that you can apply to your character to perform certain actions. Some gamers, including your humble co-adventurer, prefer the older command interpreter-style play in those first editions.
So it goes. Each person has their own preferences. Everybody has their own preferences. We have previously discussed VMware Fusion to install Boson Software on Mac OS X. We’ll show our little pixelated explorer the alternative path of installing Boson Software using Parallels Desktop for Mac. Parallels Desktop for Mac allows you to create virtual machines (VMs), which can run different operating systems (OSs), without having to shut down the Mac OS X environment. This is similar to VMware Fusion. Parallels, like VMware Fusion allows you to hide the guest OS to make the VM’s applications appear to be running on the Mac OS X desktop.
Parallels and VMware like to be portrayed as the better and faster VM solution for Mac. Your co-adventurer isn’t here to judge or test that. He has tested both solutions on a late 2006 MacBook Pro with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. It runs Mac OS X 10.7.5. It has only 3GB RAM and a 30 second battery life. You might have higher standards or a larger budget. You can also find good third-party side by side comparisons of VM competitors by turning on Google and searching for “VMware Fusion vs. Parallels Desktop For Mac.”
As of this writing, VMware Fusion is $20 cheaper than Parallels Desktop Mac. Parallels is available at a significant discount if you upgrade from Parallels Desktop for Mac or if your current version of Parallels is outdated. You should also note that using a commercial virtualization tool to run Boson software on a non-Windows environment can increase your total cost to own (TCO). This includes the cost for the virtualization solution, guest OS, and your Boson license.
Before we can begin walking down the Parallels path, it is important to ensure that you have these items in your inventory as an adventurer:
An internet connection
An Intel Mac with a Core 2 Duo processor or better, at least 2 gigabytes of RAM (4 GB recommended for Windows 7 or later), and a Hard Drive with at least 700 Megabytes (MB), disk space on the Boot Volume for Parallels Desktop, and at least 15 GB for each Windows VM you plan to create.
Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard or later
Parallels Desktop for Mac: A copy
A Microsoft Windows installation media (CD, DVD or ISO file) and a valid Windows key. Parallels Desktop supports VMs in Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows XP.