VMWare and Parallels are in heavy competition for the virtualization market on Apple’s Macintosh platform, and since VMWare got a slight advantage with the recent involvement of Intel (which also has representatives in Apple’s board of directors),
Parallels has to strike back with something spectacular to gain more audience.

The update to the beta version of Parallels Desktop for Mac will be free, but only to existing customers who already possess a valid license key for previous commercial versions or who has downloaded the trial version.

Among the “major improvements” Parallels 3.0 for Mac boasts with are the enhanced look and feel of Windows programs in Coherence, Coherence support for Exposé and Transparent Windows, support for overlapping several Windows and Mac windows in Coherence, ability to silently boot into Coherence mode, Linux PC and virtual machine migration using Transporter, ability to change a user’s VM’s disk format using the updated Image Tool and, of course, iPhone support in Windows.

Users can also customize and control the level of integration between Mac OSX and Windows and can even access their files and folders from the Mac desktop when the virtual machine is suspended or shut down.

"Exposé support for Coherence is a big feature for me, because I'm such a Mac-heavy user," Parallels Director of Corporate Communications Ben Rudolph told Ars Technica. "Being able to work with any file or app I want from either OS via SmartSelect and Coherence, and being able to flip between them with a flick of my mouse (which I've configured to do the usual F9, F10 & F11 commands) means I get a lot more done in a lot less time."

”As we roll through subsequent betas, we’ll be adding some other really cool, never-before-seen-anywhere features,” said Ben Rudolph, Parallels' first employee & Director of Corporate Communications.