In my last blog entry I was clear: Windows had crashed on me for the last time. I was through with the operating system from Redmond…
Except…
It’s a Microsoft world and I’m pragmatic enough to understand that there are simply SOME things that can not be done from Linux (device drivers for my all in one printer/scanner/fax are non existent for example). VMWare is invaluable in this regard and while I’ve raved about it before, I’ll say it again. It’s about the best 150 USD you can spend if you’re a developer.
So… Here’s how I’m using Windows that suits me just fine because it’s a) in VMWare so i only fire it up when need be and b) I’m using XGL and even Windows looks cool on the side of a 3D cube desktop.
VMWare server is now free.
Yeah… I saw that! That’s great. I think a good move on VMWare with the up and coming Xen. I DO want to try out Xen as well but haven’t had the time. I’m also considering moving to a MacBook Pro which has Parallels which is the Mac equiv of VMWare.
I like the workstation for it’s ability to take snapshots etc. which i’m not sure are with any of the free versions but I may be mistaken.
The free Server version of VMware does indeed allow you to take snapshots. It doesn’t preserve a history of them, though, so there’s only ever one point in the past to revert to. But this is what large hard disks are there for! For your $150, you can buy a new hard disk that will let you copy a VM’s directory over and over again…
VWM server is now not free but its the best
My suggestion is that you run windows in parallels in the Mac OSX.
When this article was first writtin in 2006, that might have been a rather ordinary idea with a few gotchas to work out, but at this time, its an outstanding idea and a lot of people are doing it.
Rumour has it that both XP and Vista on the mac run faster than if they were on a windows/PC machine.
How can that be?
My hasn’t the world changed in just two years…
Mac OS X is the way to go bro … you can even do the cube effect you show there with paralels desktop.