Parallels 11Brings Windows 10 And Cortana To Your Apple Mac

With this occasion, we would like to remind those who don’t know what Parallels Desktop can do for them that the software is capable of running Mac and Windows apps side by side, converts Boot Camp installations of Microsoft Windows into virtual machines, and offers a wide variety of customization options, as well as predefined profiles for the best performance. The company claims that the software is 50 percent faster than the previous versions. You can download a free trial of Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac from the company’s official website. One of the noticeable points about this integration is that Cortana can work from within “Coherence mode”, a setting that allows Windows apps to run “natively” on OS X, i.e. without having to jump into a different operating system. It can even take advantage of the users Mac’s location data, making it practically indistinguishable from a native OS X app.

There’s also a new travel mode, which tells Windows to use less power when you’re not plugged into a wall outlet, extending up times when running the software.

Cortana appears to work seamlessly on Mac from Parallel’s demonstration.

For new users the price is $79.99, for upgraders it’s $49.99 and their Pro and Business editions go for $99.99.

The software, the second release this year, provides a way for Mac users to install a virtual edition of Windows 10, or any other operating system for that matter, which can run simultaneously with Mac OS X versions including the latest El Capitan.

So, for example, Mac owners can be working on a document in Pages, and say “Hey, Cortana” to awaken Microsoft’s voice assistant.

The consumer version of Parallels Desktop costs $80 and doesn’t require a subscription.

The Pro version is brand-new this year and it’s built for developers with support for Docker, Visual Studio, Chef and other developer tools.

Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac, Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac Pro Edition and Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac Business Edition are available to both current and new Parallels Desktop for Mac users on the Parallels online store and at the following retailers – Apple Retail and Online Store; JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Domayne, Next Byte, Computers Now, and Mac1.

Parallels Desktop for Business is a third variant of the product, ands adds Pro features as well as support for centralised management and deployment.