Parallels (and VMWare) grab the USB serial devices from the Mac (the Mac can't use them at the same time) and in normal use the Mac certainly sets up a complete FTDI rs232 on my Chinese USB to RS232 adapter.
Sorry not sure yet what "honor the DTR, create a reset, and enter DFU mode " means
(device firmware update?)
but the FTDI chips work fine linked via TTL to my tiny Arduino pro minis - I think DTR tells those to run after a download so I guess that must be a reset?
I guess the free VMWare player might allow you to run XP within Windows 8 - but not sure if the driver signing would stay with you if VMWare simply uses the host drivers.
I was hoping to program the Maple Mini via the UART like I am doing now and so avoid the driver complication.