It’s been quite a while since Parallels Desktop has had a new version. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as development was formerly at breakneck speed and this slowdown shows that some stability has come to the product. It’s here to stay. Let’s take a look at the newly announced Parallels Desktop 4.0.
There are plenty of reasons to upgrade. Some of the highlights for me are 64-bit OS support, 4-way multiprocessor support, 8 GB allocable to the guest OS, DirectX 9 with Pixel Shader 2.0, OpenGL 2.1, 256 MB of video RAM allowed (up from 64), and even Leopard Server as a guest.
That’s right, this update is chock full of substantial upgrades. These aren’t just usability upgrades. Parallels has more of those too. Its new Safe Mode allows you to run a Virtual Machine in a mode such that you are offered the choice to save changes at the end of the session. It’s perfect for installing new software that you’re not sure of. If you decide it was a mistake, you can opt to not save. You can even control Parallels with the iPhone’s Remote application. Fancy.
If you’ve never bought it before, Parallels will cost you $79.99, while an upgrade will cost you $39.99 until the 30th, at which point you’ll pay $49.99.
Microsoft and Apple have traded shots at each other in advertisements over the past few months (well, on Apple’s part, technically past few years), but here’s a new tactic. According to reports, the big MS is now putting recording booths outside Apple Stores, asking PC users to make video commentaries about why they’re a PC.
Perhaps it’s just coincidence: the only one I’ve seen notice of so far is the installation pictured, which is outside the Bullring store in Birmingham, England. Such videos will likely end up in Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” commercials, the latest round of which features user-submitted videos.
So, does this mean war? Well, Microsoft likes to say that it’s inclusive. Heck, the FAQ on its “I’m a PC” campaign website says that you can feel free to jump in even if you own a Mac:
I have a Mac, can I participate?
Of course you can. A Mac can be a PC too, most notably when it runs Windows Vista.
Awwww, you’re just one big Microsoftie, aren’t you?
Microsoft employees are well known for their calm and rational expression of thoug—DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS.
Ahem.
Well, as charming as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been over the years, he’s not the only guy at the company, right? There are bound to be some that have some nice things to say about Apple. And what better place than this week’s Professional Developers Conference, where MS rolled out Windows 7. Here’s Rick Rashid, head of Microsoft Research:
“If you use a Macintosh or an iPhone, which honestly I would not recommend, you would be using code that I wrote more than 25 years ago…” […] “It just shows you things really do survive and get used in interesting ways.” [emphasis added]
Zing.
Well, I guess we can’t hold too much against Rashid for expressing his opinion; I mean, he works for Microsoft, so it’s not like he’s going to come out and recommend a Mac any more than Steve Jobs is going to walk out and pimp the latest Dell.
Rashid’s reference is to the Mach microkernel that lies at the heart of OS X, which he worked on at CMU while he was a professor there. I can’t tell if he’s dissing Mach, or OS X, or what, but doesn’t it say something positive about Mach that it’s still being used a quarter of a century later? Like maybe it’s time-tested?
Then again, when you keep fundamentally changing your OS every couple years, maybe time-tested isn’t a concept you’re familiar with.
As a Mac blogger I know it's my job to deride Microsoft--particularly Windows--at any chance I can get. I've never really understood why, though. Isn't the world a better place with more choices? Shouldn't we, as computer users, want Windows to be a great operating system if only so that it spurs Apple to continually improve our OS of choice?
It is in that spirit that I write about Windows 7, recently unveiled at PDC (which is Microsoft's version of WWDC, a chance for Windows developers to drink the Kool-Aid and see what's coming down the Redmond pike). Many tech pundits are looking to Windows 7 to be the operating system that Vista was supposed to be. Judging from some videos and screenshots posted by Gizmodo it certainly looks like Microsoft is trying: Joining a WiFi network only requires one click in Windows 7, just as the OS gods intended, and the Windows Taskbar has been beefed up and reminds me quite a bit of the Dock (more on the new Taskbar at Ars Technica's look at Windows 7's UI).
Of note to folks that enjoy their media in Apple's preferred formats, Windows 7 offers up native support for both AAC and H.264. Also, Microsoft has freed gadgets (which are their version of Widgets) from only being displayed in a sidebar on one side of your computer's screen; they can now be placed anywhere on the desktop.
There are a host of other improvements that are aimed at the enterprise, but the real question is whether Windows 7 will suffer the backlash that Vista did? Since Windows 7 is just a technology preview at the moment and no release date has been set, we have no real way of knowing, but it looks like some PDC attendees are afraid that Windows 7 is just Vista warmed over.
If you’ve had a hankering to grab a copy of CodeWeavers’s CrossOver Mac, which lets you run Windows applications on your Mac without installing the dreaded operating system from Redmond, then hold onto your pocketbooks. Tomorrow, you’ll have a chance to pick up the software gratis.
Earlier this year, CodeWeavers CEO Jeremy White launched The CodeWeavers Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge, promising that if any of several economic or political milestones were met before President Bush left office, the company would give away its software for a full day. One of those conditions just happened to be dropping the price of gas in the Twin Cities, where White lives, to $2.79 a gallon (from a price of $3.79 in July). Thanks to the nation’s financial crisis, the price of gasoline hit just that number about two weeks ago, leading White to fulfill his end of the bargain.
Starting tonight at midnight CST Central time (silly daylight savings time), you’ll be able to swing over to CodeWeavers’s website and pick up a code that’ll entitle you to one free copy of any of CrossOver’s software, complete with support. The deal runs for twenty-four hours, at which point you’re out of luck, unless one of the remaining goals gets met in the next three months, such as capturing Osama bin Laden or dropping the average price of a gallon of milk to $3.50 (not for the first time, reminding me I’m glad that we abandoned research into milk-fueled cars).
So, head over to CodeWeavers tomorrow to pick up a free copy of CrossOver Mac, CrossOver Linux, or CrossOver Games. Oh, and you might want to fill up your car while gas prices are still on the downturn. Consider it a public service announcement.
[via Infinite Loop]
Following in the footsteps of various members of the Bush Administration, Laura Bush (and their iPods), Karl Rove, and of course, Al Gore, former prime minister and current foreign minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt, has finally switched over to the Mac.
He writes, via a Google machine translation:
After much reflection, examining and discussing the other week, I took the big step to switch from Microsoft world to the Mac world.I went and purchased a Mac.
To say that I do not regret the step is the month big understatement. My only criticism of myself is why I waited so long to take the step.
A bit messy, it is to learn that some things work a bit differently. But the Word, Powerpoint and others familiar with the program is facilitating.
And after a while, everything is simpler, faster and smoother.
The new world is most definitely better than the old.
Welcome, friend! But yeah, why did it take you so long, Carl? Might we recommend a few sites for your perusal?
Let us know if we can help you with anything!
[via TUAW]
By now, you’ve probably seen the “I’m a PC” ads making the rounds. My take? They have a couple of amusing moments (I’ll admit, the shark cage one got a laugh out of me), but ultimately, they kind of fall flat for me. Trying to respond to Apple’s ads run the risk of making Microsoft look defensive, and the choice of celebrities is just odd (Eva Longoria? For reals?).
In some ways, I think they don’t quite go far enough; plus there’s the fact that they still strike me as a backpedal from the Gates/Seinfeld ads—whatever Microsoft and its agency would have you believe, that is the perception).
Anyway, as at least one clever person realized, Microsoft’s commercial is more like an Apple ad than you might even realize at the outset. Take a look below.
I guess we’re all PCs, huh? I wonder what would have happened if Microsoft had tried to make the catch phrase of their ads “I’m Windows.”
To all of you who felt that Microsoft’s Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates ad campaign was responsible for the downfall of modern society, rest easy. Microsoft is moving on from the surreal spots to a new campaign intended to showcase “everyday” Windows users—you know, like scientists, shark divers, and Eva Longoria. Those ads will reputedly include a familiar phrase: “I’m a PC.”
And so it’s back to business as usual for Microsoft. Say what you will about the Seinfeld/Gates spots—and if our comments threads are any indication, many of you already have—but if nothing else, the ads showed that Microsoft was willing to take risks. Redmond is in need of revamping their image, but by attempting to co-opt Apple’s campaign all they show is that they’d rather ride someone else’s coattails than innovate. That’s not reinventing themselves—that’s keeping the same image they’ve always had.
Microsoft execs have claimed that they only ever intended to run two of the Seinfeld/Gates spots. I’m not sure whether or not I buy that—it seems like a lot of effort to invest in two segments of what clearly struck me as an ongoing story. But given the short time frame in which the ads were shown, I’m also not sure that they could turn on a dime and present a whole new series of commercials. My guess is that these new spots were meant to appear later, but were bumped up due to negative reactions to the Seinfeld/Gates ads—but like I say, that’s just a guess.
Gates will appear in at least one of the new ads, though Seinfeld is not yet expected to—just as well, considering that by all accounts, he’s an everyday Mac user (just like us!).
