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Apple Mac
Parallels update
Remote Desktop Clent 2.0 for the Mac
MyRemoteMachine /console
It hasn’t been without problems, currently I only get a blank screen after a tried to start in full screen mode. I’ll see what happens after a reboot.
[Edit] Setting the colour depth down and then back-again seemed to stop that problem.
Parallels v3.0
[Edit] – I think I’ve sussed the blurry full screen. When you go full screen it seems to preserve the resolution you have in the window mode. Therefore you have to manually adjust the screen resolution to the correct maximum size…I’m sure the old one handled this automatically
Convergence v2 didn’t seem all that different either, although you can now launch applications from the other OS, e.g. open a Word Doc on the Mac and it launch Office in Vista…or something. I don’t use that.
The Transport feature looks interesting, it seems that it can create Parallel machines from physical or other VM applications. I may have to try that.
The Explorer is quite nice too, it allows you to examine a disk without running a Parallel machine. Quite nice if you’re trying to conserve battery but need a file.
Still I think I’d rather have kept my money, but maybe they’ll be some patches soon.
[Edit] IE7 now crashes a lot, I’m not sure why this is, possibly a security changes, maybe DirectX related…it is very annoying.
[Edit] Ah it looks like it is DirectX related (maybe something to do with Flash adverts?), if I turn DirectX off the sites work fine, on they crash IE. Also there is a entry in Event log that looks very much like a DirectX related DLL. However, the copy from Event Log now crashes so I haven’t copied the text!
Will Apple be undone by their own strategy?
The real choice between PCs and Macs is flexibility vs. out-of-the-box compatibility. Mac’s only contain a very restricted set of hardware, basically you could say that the only options are how much memory or disk space you have (yeah ok there are more choices but it’s not far from the truth). This means the a Mac OS only has to worry about a very small set of hardware and hence the chance of a dodgy hardware drive getting into the mix is greatly reduced. Whereas PCs come in all sorts of permutations, some with downright cheap and nasty kit. Windows bravely attempts to cope with all of this, but with all these permutations of kit getting a conflict is greatly increased. So for me, when I want to build my optimum machine I go the PC route, when I want something that will be pretty dependable without me doing loads of researching then a Mac would be a good choice.
Ok rant over, now onto the title of this blog entry. Apple have made a
very big push at the home user to switch by concentrating on what the
average Joe user wants. Pictures, music, internet browsing and email.
Ok so you get that with Windows too but why should that matter?
(Although Apple charge for their email services). We swallow the slick marketing and go an buy our pretty iMac and put it into our homes, in fact it’s so versatile we put it into our living rooms/lounges. Great, we’re thrilled. But hang on what’s this on the horizon? A device that sits in our living rooms/lounges you say. Plays music, browse the internet, email, etc? Apple have been so keen to market the Mac as a simple users tool that stuck the Mac in the middle of the road where the consoles trucks travel up and down. Next gen consoles will do everything that the Mac campaign says you want from a computer. Plus they play cool games…hmm the choice of what to switch to looks obvious now, I don’t want a PC/Mac I want Nintendo, Playstation, 360…