Parallels announced this week that it is working on a new version of Parallels Desktop for Macs that will allow the virtualized guest operating system to use 3D acceleration hardware in real time. The company said that while it's not available yet, it plans to introduce 3D acceleration so that those who want to run 3D applications in a virtualized Windows XP do not have to dual boot their Intel-Macs to do so. Best of all, Parallels said that 3D acceleration will be "fast."

The new beta version of Parallels Desktop includes USB improvements like support for Windows Mobile 5 devices, Web camera support, and a broader list of supported devices. Complete keyboard support is now offered, including the "eject CD" button and right and left shift-mapping for non-English keyboard layouts. Mac hard disk cache can be switched off for a virtual machine running in Parallels Desktop - that can "substantially improve" Mac OS X performance while using Parallels Desktop, according to the developer.

Rudolph also pointed to further improvements in Parallels Desktop for Mac, including what's described as "a groundbreaking new user interface that will make running Windows on a Mac easier and more productive than ever before;" new security and management tools; the ability to burn CDs and DVDs inside virtual machines and a new Server for Mac OS X product. What's more, Parallels Desktop for Mac will see "fast 3D graphics support," presumably to help cater to gamers who want to run Windows games without having to reboot their machine using Boot Camp and a separate Windows partition. Also planned is support for Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Vista, the major update to Windows Microsoft has planned for the first calendar quarter of 2007.