IMINI  I think this round goes to Parallels!

I have compared Parallels Desktop 5 to Fusion 3 and my findings are:

- PD5 feels faster in Vista/Windows 7- virtual machines load and shut down faster, windows scroll smoother, suspend and restore is much faster, videos playback and flash on web pages are smoother

- PD5 supports Compiz in Ubuntu! (Fusion 3 does not)

- Ubuntu 9.10 works very well (Fusion 3 has problems with sound and other things)

- PD5 has many little options not present in Fusion 3 - like what happens after VM shutdown (keep window open, close window or quit PD) etc.

- Unity in Fusion looks nicer than Coherence in PD - has nice rounded corners

- both are stable, no problems whatsoever

Overall version 5 seems to be very much improved. Definitely worth trying before upgrading to Fusion 3.  
(Version 5.0.9220.531002)

IMINI  Great app! Often updated to support changes in browsers.  
(Version 5.3.6)

IMINI  Very good emulator - good interface and comatibility.  
(Version 4.0.1)

IMINI  I like when developers drop old OS support so that they can use new technologies in new OS. 10.4 is more than 4 years old, there is no reason to still use it. Backward compatibility is the reason Windows Vista is so slow and bloated.  
(Version 3.2b14)

IMINI  Warning - version 5 forces you to install some kind of "Google Software Update". You MUST accept it, otherwise GE will not start. It is supposed to be "safer than downloading files from the internet yourself". Yeah, right :) Back to version 4.  
(Version 5.0.11729.1014)

IMINI  For me it crashes every single time on closing (on 10.5.6).  
(Version 2.8.0.438)

IMINI  I use SpeedDownoad and like it - best download manager on OS X.

I am missing one important feature I had on Getright (Windows app) many years ago - mirrors support. If I add the same file form different url, it just starts a second download, instead of adding a mirror and possibly new segment to existing download. I would also like more control over segments - to see them visually, be able to control the number of segments and have segments form different mirrors.  
(Version 5.1.3)

IMINI  Very interesting, fast, ahead of the competition in some areas (compiz in Linux kind of works). Behind in some others (lack od DriectX).

But also very unstable and unreliable - hangs, kernel panics, VM sudden exits, no pointer in compiz, graphics refresh problems, etc.

So far staying with VMWare witch is is visibly slower, but rock solid. But I will try new VirtualBox versions and observe the progress.  
(Version 2.2)

IMINI  Second review of the same app. But somehow all reviews have disappeared for some time (at least they where not there on 13th of Feb).

Anyway, Skim is worth 2 x 5 stars :)  
(Version 1.2.1)

IMINI  Great app - best PDF reader on OSX! And much more.  
(Version 1.2.1)

IMINI  By accepting this you basically say you are OK with EVERY program installing background processes, doing something even when their parent programs are closed.

I DO NOT accept that approach. I DO NOT want programs to continue running when I close them. I do not trust all developers so much to continuously run their background processes. This of course includes Google.

Apple is different - I trust Apple, because by definition I have to - I have their OS, always running "in the background".

And besides that, what is the legitimate reason for Google to do that? Do I really need stupid Google Earth updated every 2 hours? Maybe it would be enough to check on startup (also with user acceptance)? This is a program for amusement, who cares if it is updated in the last 2 hours?  
(Version 5.0.11337.1968 )

IMINI  The best PDF reader for Mac.  
(Version 1.2.1)

IMINI  I don't like the changes in 2.49a... It now requires install and goes into OS X too deeply.  
(Version 2.49a)

IMINI  It's a very good application, but I DO NOT like the new installer. Dragging the app to Applications folder is the right way. This is a change in the wrong direction.  
(Version 3.3.6)

IMINI  Interesting application, but my concern is, that it needs connection to services.jungledisk.com for some unknown reason. It should connect only to Amazon.  
(Version 1.43a)