Parallels Upgrade Mystery Solved...Sort of

Parallels recently released version 4 of their popular software that allows Windows and other operating systems to run along side Mac OS X. They also announced a special price for those upgrading to the new version that was good until the end of the year. As I blogged yesterday, mention of that price disappeared from their the front page of their website and store. I did find a link to the 20% discount buried on their site.

If you are looking to upgrade to the new version and want the 20% discount (like someone wouldn’t), follow the links to the demo movie and you find the link at the top of that page. You do need to hurry as it ends on December 31st.

I did purchase it, and so far it seems to be a great improvement over the previous version. I had lots of problems with Parallels 3, it was not what I hoped for. Parallels 4 seems to be much stronger and allowed me to install Ubuntu 8.10 without the need for a secret decoder ring. Look for a full review later after I’ve put it through its paces. I know there are a number of reports out there from people who have had bad experiences, I just not one, maybe I got lucky.

At any rate, while it’s not on the front page where it belongs, you can still get the discount if you know where to look.

What Happened to Parallels Upgrade Special???

Like many, I'm trying to finish up everything I need to do for the end of the year. One of the items on my list was upgrading Parallels to the new version. They were running a $39 special that was supposed to be good until the end of the year. Now that special is missing from the website, what happened? It’s one thing to have a limited time special that is limited to so many customers, but this one was time limited and there is still time before December 31st gets here.

Fortunately I captured the page when it was up. I had a bad feeling, normally I don’t capture websites. The links did work and I did get my 20% discount for the upgrade, but I shouldn’t have had to rely on my own ingenuity. How many customers were not so lucky? How much money did Parallels make by not following through with the discount as advertised? When a company decides to conduct as special pricing scheme, that’s great. It should be beneficial for both the provider and the consumer, but the provider has to follow through on the terms.