Sal's Blog

Sun Microsystems, Inc's VirtualBox 1.6.2

MAC OS/X Users now have another Virtual Machine Choice! Not only do MAC OS/X Users have Parallels the Long time leader in Virtualization Software for the MAC, and VMware the Market leader in Virtualization software which now has Fusion for MAC but now here comes Sun Microsystems with the Open Source VirtualBox version 1.6.2 for MAC OS/X.

VirtualBox is very fast when running Windows XP but unless you have 2GB of memory on your MAC do not try to run VISTA.

VirtualBox has acceptable performance at least if you use Windows XP but it certainly does not have any of the bells or whistles of Parallels and VMware but, heck what do you expect for Free!!!!!

I do have to admit for me to use it instead of Parallels and Vmware (I use Parallels on my Mac Pro and VmWare on my MacBookPro) it would need to have better OS Integration. I use UNITY on Vmware and Coherence on Parallels all the time. The integration of Parallels and Vmware are second to none and VirtualBox has a long way to go. I do not mind spending the $80.00 dollars for either software and since I have two computers I buy two of everything but, if money is an issue and lets face it with the economy the way it is I think there are users thinking about the cost of software then every before and VirtualBox is Free, so if you are worried about money then VirtualBox is for you and you would not regret it.

For a Free Virtual Machine it is the best out there. Sun has done a great job in making a software package that runs well without any of the flashy features. It does exactly what it says it does, it runs Intel based Os's on a MAC and runs them rather well.

UPDATE:

VirtualBox Version 1.6.2 now supports Seamless mode! This is great as it allows you to run Windows or Linux side by side with the host operating system.

To enable Seamless mode you need to hit a key combination, it is not available on the menu bar. The key combination is as follows:

Press the Host key (normally the right control key) together with “L”. This will enlarge the size of the VM’s display to the size of your host screen and mask out the guest operating system’s background. To go back to the “normal” VM display (i.e. to disable seamless windows), press the Host key and “L” again

For more information click the link below:

http://www.virtualbox.org

Apple to Migrate from .MAC to MobleMe

Apple with the onset and release of IPhone version 2.0 all .MAC users will be migrated to Apple's new MobileMe technology.

MobileMe will provide all the features of .Mac plus Push Mail Contacts, and Calendars. The Push Technology will allow synchronization with MAc's, PC's, IPhones and IPOD Touches.

Apple's guided Tour says this is Microsoft Exchange for the rest of us!

All existing .Mac customer will be migrated to MobileMe as soon as it is available sometime in June and will now have two email addresses a .Mac.com and a .Me.com address.

Your existing username will stay the same and will now be migrated. MobileMe also comes with twice the storage capability for mail and Idisk.

Everything in OS/X will work the same except you will no longer be able to use the Bookamrk Utility on www.mac.com. this utility will no longer exist in Mobile Me.

For more information see the following link: http://www.apple.com/mobileme/guidedtour/

Here is a copy of the Email sent to existing .MAC Customers:

=====================================================================

Dear .Mac member:

Today Apple announced a new Internet service called MobileMe - taking the best of .Mac and adding a host of new features. As a current .Mac member, your account will be automatically upgraded to MobileMe in July. For a closer look, watch the MobileMe Guided Tour and read below for an overview of your new service.

Mac integration you know and love. With MobileMe, you'll continue to enjoy features that take advantage of seamless integration with Mac OS X and iLife - Back to My Mac; access to your iDisk in the Finder; Mac-to-Mac syncing of Dock items, preferences, and more; iWeb site publishing; and photo and movie sharing directly from iPhoto '08 and iMovie '08.

New web applications for when you're away from your Mac. MobileMe features a suite of web applications at www.me.com that have the familiar look and feel of the applications on your Mac. Because these web applications stay in sync with your Mac and other devices, you'll have the same information wherever you go. Here's what you'll find at me.com:

Mail, the anchor of the new suite, is even better with a refined interface.

Contacts has a new three-pane interface, contact groups, maps integration, search, and photo support.

Calendar is a brand-new web application that feels just like iCal, featuring multiple calendars, click-and-drag event creation, and more.

Gallery lets you manage your collection of shared photos and movies from anywhere. You can now upload photos, rearrange their order, and set sharing preferences, all from a browser.

iDisk now has the familiar look of the Mac OS X Finder. It features drag-and-drop filing and an easy new way to share large documents, by sending an email with a link for downloading the file.

Account lets you manage settings such as storage allocation.

To use the new web applications, make sure you have one of these browsers: Safari 3, Internet Explorer 7, or Firefox 2 or later.

Push email. Push contacts. Push calendar. In addition to Mac-to-Mac syncing, MobileMe now keeps your iPhone, your iPod touch, and even a PC in sync. MobileMe pushes new contacts, calendar items, and bookmarks to your Mac or PC, and over the air to your iPhone or iPod touch. For example, if you add a calendar event on the web, the change will automatically be pushed to your Mac and iPhone. New email will be pushed to your iPhone in seconds, eliminating the need to check for messages manually.

As a MobileMe subscriber, you can continue to use your mac.com address for email. You will also be issued a me.com address with the same user name that you can use if you prefer. The choice is yours.

Double the online storage. To give you plenty of space for your email, photos, and other files, MobileMe doubles your storage from 10GB to 20GB for an individual subscription.

We'll be sure to update you when the new service goes live. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the upcoming transition from .Mac to MobileMe, please visit the MobileMe FAQ.

Sincerely,

The MobileMe Team

Vmware Purchases Thinstall - Application Virtualization

Well, Understand OS Virtualization, Vmware would like to introduce you to Thinstall Application Virtualization!

Now Help Desk and IT Managers can now deploy application securely and without installation to desktops across the enterprise. Not only does this make deployment easy it also makes an executable of a virtual application that can be streamed across the network.

This makes perfect sense for Vmware as Vmware is available for Linux, Unix, MAC Os/x and Windows. Now a Windows Executable can run on any platform.

IT Managers remember the day when you went to deploy a network executable that was open by a user and Windows said that there is a sharing violation? Well now all you need to do is create a new virtualized application executable and name it with a .1, .2, .etc and put it in the same directory as the original executable and you are done. The next time the executable is run it will be the new version and it will keep all the original settings set by the individual user.

Awesome Idea and interesting technology. Now we will have to see what Vmware does with it next. This could be a possible solution to replace the need for CITRIX or Terminal Server Environment.

Check it out here http://www.vmware.com/whatsnew/thinstall.html#

MAC update 10.5.3

Hi All,

Well I have been busy checking out the latest update by Apple to Leopard(10.5) This update is a huge 535MB and includes fixes to almost everything in leopard. This update labeled 10.5.3 Combo Update does of course cause some issues. More detail can be found at by reading MAC Update (Click Here).

After testing I found two what I would call major updates. One is when saving any files in PhotoShop CS3 or In-Design CS3. When saving a file it corrupts the file. To fix this you must do a Save as instead of saving. The other is that the Update link in Photoshop or Adobe products is no longer available. To fix this problem you must boot off the original Leopard DVD and then Repair your Disk Drive Permissions.

Once this is done the Update function will be available to you to use.

Stay tuned for more information as I test the rest of the OS.

Thought of the Morning

    I just wanted to throw a Thought I had about Microsoft Silverlight.Net. What I like about this development tool is that it is a cross platform web development tool.

   Silverlight.net is a direct competitor of Flash by Adobe. It fills the same space and same needs. The difference really is in the development environment. You can create Silverlight applications using Expression Media and Visual Studio.Net 2008.

     Some Pro's are that developers can use there current knowledge to create beautiful and exciting looking web applications using nothing more than your current development skills. You do not need to know how to use or create Flash objects using the Flash Development tool.

Some of the other nice features is the ability to use LINQ to SQL and with the inclusion of Infragistics in the Silverlight realm some really nice full feature controls to make the developers life easier. Lets face it, if it was not for third party or Microsoft controls in the Microsoft development environment there would be no developers left with hair.

  On the other hand using Flash is much easier if you are creating  flash video's for your web site. you can take a standard movie and/or pictures and make a flash movie with some great transitions in a very short time using the Flash developer and Flash video encoder.

   It is important to say that the current version of Silverlight is still in Beta and currently is Beta 2. It is available for all browsers including Linux and MAC OS/X.

If interested check it out at the Microsoft site listed here http://silverlight.net/default.aspx

Developing for Windows using a MAC

Windows developers can now go to the dark side!

    On a Mac using either SWSoft's Parallels Desktop 3.0, Vmware's Fusion, and Apples Boot Camp windows developers can now use a MAC to develop windows software.

    Really Cool! we are no longer stuck with what I call inferior hardware we can now use apple hardware. Yes, in most cases it is more money but, it has been my experience that the hardware is much more stable and reliable then alternative. I know this is debatable but you know this is a BLOG!!

    I own a copy of Parallels Desktop and Vmware fusion. It has been my experience that they both work terrific but it does depend on your hardware and what you need to run. For instance Vmware has much better USB support than Parallels but from an environment standpoint and ease of use Parallels wins hands down.

  For developing Windows software they both work fine. The great thing is using either of these products give you the isolation from the MAC OS/X and if your virtual machine crashes the OS stays running. Yes, this is the same on the Windows platform using Vmware but I find using a MAC just so much easier and quite frankly from a graphics perspective and Web development perspective a MAC is so much better.

Lets face it a MAC was built to be a graphics workstation.

Alright now lets get to the Apple store and buy your new MAC to do some software development. Heck, lets buy some Xservers and run Parallels Server version and power your entire company.

Welcome

    I am technology professional with over twenty eight years of experience. I have been working with Microsoft Technology since early 1990's with C and C++, currently most of my development experience is with C# and VB.Net.  I am currently, an Independent development consultant working for SCP Solutions.

    The purpose of this blog is to have a community where we can share through a collaborative experience all things Software Development.