Virtual Mac OS X with Parallels beta

The recently released beta version of Parallels Server 3 can now run Mac OS X Server as a guest operating system in addition to various versions of Windows and Linux. But if you're now thinking that you'll be able to run Apple's system on a PC, we have to disappoint you: even the virtual Mac OS X Server requires a real Mac OS X Server as the host system, so you will need genuine Mac hardware.

Parallels Server does, however, allow you to use both 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows and Linux in a virtual machine (VM). Up to four virtual processors and 8 GB of RAM can be assigned to a VM.

Parallels Server is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Called Bare Metal, this version includes its own Linux host OS, though it does not run on Macintoshes. Registered users can download a 30-day test version of the beta software. The software vendor has not yet said what the latest version of Parallels will cost.

(trk)