02-20-2007, 06:57 PM
Crossover is interesting but annoyingly incomplete. Their only-the-apps-we've-tested approach will aggravate more people than it serves. I have a client who uses Crossover for one app -- a karaoke database based on Access -- and it works fine for him. For people who have literally ONE app they need to run from the Windows world, I often suggest giving Crossover a spin.
But Mac people who need to run more than the handful (all right, TWO handfuls) of apps CO supports will find the experience frustrating. Parallels' "Coherence" mode (when debugged) and/or Parallels itself is currently the best option for people who need -- and have the money -- to run Windows apps on a Mac.
I get to run Parallels at work and overall I like it as much as I can like anything that runs Windows, but I'm always amazed to find that most people who ask me about it only want to run ... MS Word or Excel or PP (or some other app for which a Mac version and/or superior alternative has been available for years). They are completely unaware that MS Office and its component parts were Mac products YEARS before Windows was around, and continue to be Mac products today.
But Mac people who need to run more than the handful (all right, TWO handfuls) of apps CO supports will find the experience frustrating. Parallels' "Coherence" mode (when debugged) and/or Parallels itself is currently the best option for people who need -- and have the money -- to run Windows apps on a Mac.
I get to run Parallels at work and overall I like it as much as I can like anything that runs Windows, but I'm always amazed to find that most people who ask me about it only want to run ... MS Word or Excel or PP (or some other app for which a Mac version and/or superior alternative has been available for years). They are completely unaware that MS Office and its component parts were Mac products YEARS before Windows was around, and continue to be Mac products today.