A beta version of Parallels Desktop 5.0 is now available

This beta version of Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac includes the following new features and enhancements.

Virtual devices improvements:

* Improved sound — Better quality of sound in virtual machines.
* DNS support for Shared networking.

Graphics improvements:

* Windows Vista/Windows 7 AERO (WDDM DX9) — Support for Windows Aero in Windows Vista and Windows 7 virtual machines.

Integration improvements:

* Automatical compacting — Automatically reduce the virtual hard disk size as the unused space on it grows.
* Lockdown — Lock the virtual machine settings to prevent changes.
* Drag & Drop in Virtual Machines list — Add an existing virtual machine by dragging its file to the virtual machines list.

New User Interface

* Improved Virtual Machine configuration editor — Better organized virtual machine settings.
* Simplified Parallels Desktop menu structure — More intuitive menus.
* Coloring virtual machines — Highlight your virtual machines in the virtual machine list and in Finder by setting different colors for them.

Tools

* New Parallels Compressor.

Parallels Desktop 5.0 Beta released