Parallels released the first pre-release of its virtualization software. According to a good friend of mine, the installation is a breeze and it works seamlessly with OS X.

This software isn’t the same as Boot Camp. Boot Camp creates a dual boot system. With Parallels, you use the virtualization technique and you’re able to launch Windows applications within OS X.

I think the list of supported operating systems is awesome:

Any version of Windows (3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, Me, 2000, NT, XP, 2003), any Linux distribution, FreeBSD, Solaris, OS/2, eComStation, or MS-DOS in secure virtual machines running alongside Mac OS X.

So, if you can use this software (it will only work on Intel Macs), you really should give it a try! You can download it here.

Tags: os x, intel mac, boot camp, virtualization, parallels