That means that to use it, you’ll need to leave a computer plugged in, powered up and connected to the Net.
So Parallels Access is remote-control software: The applications you use are really running on a Windows PC or Mac, provided by you and located somewhere else on a local network or the Internet. Unlike a Mac, an iPad can’t run virtualized copies of operating systems designed for other computing devices. The company provided me with a pre-release version to try. But in certain respects, it’s already amazing. It feels like it’s still an idea in progress, and it’s working under constraints Parallels Desktop didn’t face. Access aims to let you use Windows and OS X programs on your tablet - and not just make it possible, but to blur the lines between tablet operating systems and desktop operating systems. I was reminded of just how far Parallels Desktop blew my socks off my feet when I tried Parallels Access, a new iPad app/service the company is launching today. And Parallels Desktop only got better and better, especially after it introduced a feature called Coherence, which made Windows apps look as if they were running right inside Apple‘s OS X. The notion that you could do that without crippling compromises was kind of mind-blowing at the time.
Follow first time I heard of a software company called Parallels was back in 2006, when it released software to let you run Windows on what was then a newfangled kind of computer called an Intel Mac.