MS Licenses Parallels Desktop for Expression Pro

Parallels has announced that its Parallels Desktop for Mac virtualization software will be made available as part of Microsoft's Expression Professional Subscription. That's coming in June, 2008 for US$999.

Expression is Microsoft's Web design software line. Only one component -- Expression Media, an asset management tool formerly known as iView Media Pro -- runs natively on the Mac. The other components are Windows-only products.

The forthcoming Expression Professional Subscription includes Expression studio, Visual Studio Standard, Office Standard, Office Visio Professional, Windows XP, Windows Vista Business Edition, Virtual PC, Parallels Desktop for Mac and pre-configured virtualized server environments. Microsoft bills it as "a total solution for designers" looking to create user experiences on Microsoft platforms.

The inclusion of Parallels Desktop for Mac enables designers working on Intel Macs to run the tools included with Expression Professional Subscription without needing to reboot into Windows using Boot Camp or to use a separate PC.