Parallels Desktop 11 brings Cortana to the Mac

Mac users will soon be able to say “Hey Cortana” and have Microsoft’s virtual assistant talk back to them from OS X, thanks to new functionality included in Parallels Desktop 11.

The new version of the popular virtualization software will support running Windows 10 in “Coherence” mode, which means that users can set up a virtual machine with Microsoft’s new operating system and then run Windows applications alongside native Mac apps.

The update also works with OS X El Capitan, the next version of Apple’s operating system that’s slated for release later this year. Its marquee feature is support for using Cortana with Coherence mode, so the virtual assistant can pop up on the desktop in OS X to respond to users’ queries.

To make Cortana run continuously, users need to keep a Windows virtual machine running on their computer, which will put more of a performance load on the device. For people who have to run Windows applications all day anyway, it’s a nice side benefit.

Parallels, which announced the software late Tuesday, said it has improved the performance of its virtual machines—launching and shutting down Windows is up to 50 percent faster than the previous version, and file operations inside Windows are up to 20 percent speedier.

In addition to the Cortana features, the new version of Parallels also brings Apple’s Quick Look feature to files in a Windows virtual machine. That means users can navigate to a file stored in Windows, press the spacebar and have OS X show them a preview of its contents. It’s an easy way for people to figure out which file in a folder they’re actually looking for without having to open them in an application. 

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