For the first time in several months, Parallels today released an update to their virtualization suite. The new version 3.0 of the software, designed to let Windows software run seamlessly on a Mac, got a number of important and interesting updates, such as better control over file associations and support for hardware acceleration in 3D programs. It supports Vista Boot Camp partitions and an improved file explorer, along with much more.

This Paralells update will not be free, and anyone wishing to update to 3.0 will need to fork over $49.99. This is still quite a bit cheaper than most virtualization software, which tends to focus on operating systems rather than individual programs.

Two years ago, virtualization was hardly thought of. Now, it's becoming a bigger topic than ever before, with some very big players and some minor players all racing to be the first big hit. Thin clients, hosted servers, virtualized machines, virtualized software and even CPUs that are designed around virtualization. It may not be big yet, but it definitely will be.