Windows Vista on Parallels Desktop review
This review is not a review of Microsoft's Windows Vista OS, nor is it necessarily a review of Parallels Desktop. It is a review of the combination of the two software.
Review Rig
- Macbook Pro / Intel Core Duo 2 ghz / 2gb Ram
- Parallels Desktop for Mac 3038 Beta
- Windows Vista Ultimate RTM
When I started a contest to run Windows XP on the Mac, I was looking for the optimal way to operate in a world where you cant stand to work in Windows but cant afford to work without it.
I purchased Parallels Desktop for Mac when it first was released and have used it as my primary way to run Windows on my Macbook Pro. There have been a multitude of improvements since the first release, and the new features in the current betas are quite exciting.
Download updates and software from Microsoft even without the Windows Genuine Advantage check
Have you been trying to figure out how to keep your Windows up to date so you dont spread viruses, but are concerned that if you update, Windows will stop working?
muBlinder is a piece of software that allows you to bypass Microsoft's Genuine Advantage check and download their software - such as Windows Desktop Search 3.0, Windows Defender, Internet Explorer 7.0 (which breaks Outlook 2003). It's available and update from the p2plife forums (unfortunately you need to register to download it), but the solution works, and is relatively easy to update. Another solution that doesnt allow you to download the extras is WindizUpdate, a plugin for firefox that replicates the way Windows Update works.
installing google desktop under different credentials than the active user is currently not supported
I was recently trying to uninstall Google Desktop from my Windows XP install that I had running in Parallels Desktop for Mac. Every time I would boot up, it would tell me that it could not upgrade the database and begin reindexing all my emails and files from 0%. Thats no good! So, I decided to uninstall it and give Windows Desktop Search 3.0 a try.
Well, when I tried to uninstall google desktop, I would get the error message: "installing google desktop under different credentials than the active user is currently not supported". After some research, and frustration, I found someones recommendation. If you get this error, the steps are as follows.
- Run the google desktop uninstall
- Click OK on the first error message, but leave the second one up
- Start the google desktop uninstaller again
- Click yes to all of the questions!
- Restart.
That should enable you to remove Google Desktop, when Google Desktop doesnt want to be removed!
Windows XP 64 is crap and things break and printers dont work and quickbooks doesnt work the list goes on
So, I thought I would do a review of my experience with Windows XP 64. I guess the place to start is:
Why I bought Windows XP 64.
I was shopping online for a new computer for one of our employees and saw that Dell was selling these workstations with Intel Core 2 Duo processors (64 bit chips!) with cheap upgrades ($10 + shipping) to Windows Vista. Well, if you bought Windows XP, you only got an upgrade to 32 bit Windows Vista. At this point, I had a lot of faith in Microsoft Windows Vista, and thought that for sure, within 1 year, no one would be buying and installing the 32 bit Vista... that technology is for the dinosaurs. So, the option I had (for no additional cost) was to buy the 64 bit Windows XP and get the upgrade to 64 bit Windows Vista Business. I didn't think / have time to research potential problems with that decision and thought that I was making a smart choice.
The computer arrived and I booted in to Windows XP 64 and noticed one thing that immediately concerned me... two versions of Internet Explorer. *Gulp*. If they've got two versions of Internet Explorer, then that means that some things don't work correctly on the 64 bit version and you need to use the 32 bit version. This was a sign of problems to come.
Installation and Set up
Well, the next step was to set up office which was pre-installed. Im pretty sure there isn't a 64 bit compiled Office 2003 so there was probably no benefit with running that on a 64 bit system. So, after a few hiccups and some concerns I got the machine up to spec and was ready to send it to our other office. The morning I am going to send it, I had to finish one install before it left. As I am using the computer, I get a BSOD. Uh oh. The computer shouldn't BSOD when it is brand new. Those unfamiliar with BSODs or Blue Screen of Death might want to note that these are usually caused by poorly coded device drivers.
Well, I dismissed that first BSOD to dumb luck, packed the computer up and sent it on its merry way. The next thing to do when it is on site, is to install all the printer drivers... no problem! Well, it wouldn't be a problem on regular windows... but 64 bit, better Windows doesn't have the same support for printers that its weaker smaller brother does. HP attempted to address this by having a unified driver for all of its printers for XP 64. What HP probably didnt do was test it on all their printers. I wasn't able to get it to work on the HP Color Laserjet 2500.
So, I said I would try and fix it later and would look for a solution online. Well, the next step was installing Quickbooks. I was a little nervous by this time, so did a search and found the following disappointing information about compatibility of Quickbooks in Windows XP 64.
Daily Use
Well, as it happens, the computer has started crashing and showing BSODs multiple times per day. Looks like we are going to have to send it back to Dell and get the 32 bit Windows XP.
Morale of the story is - if you are using Microsoft products, stay away from the cutting edge - it sucks pretty bad.
IE7 Breaks Outlook 2003
How ridiculous does that statement look! If you were wondering why your headers stopped printing when you print your outlook email, that is the answer. By installing Internet Explorer 7, you are foregoing your right to consistently print header information in Outlook. Several people in my office were reporting that some of their emails were printing without the header info. Upon doing a search in google for the phrase "email only prints text of the message", I found the following discussion @ lockergnome
I believe this problem started when IE7 was installed as I haven't seen it on machines that still have IE6.
and then another frustrated user:
ts definitely IE7 there are so many people (not just in these forums but also in others across the net) having the same problem - me too.
Microsoft are exceptionally quiet on this front. the only known solution i've seen is to uninstall IE7 & go back to IE6. i hae tried other fixes ie re-editing HTML back into plain & then putting back to HTML - this works sometimes - but sometimes not & is very time consuming.
So, what did I do? I removed IE 7 from all of my users computers and faster than you can say "microsoft needs help", they were all printing Outlook emails with headers again.
Im in the process of reviewing Office 2007 and Windows Vista, and it wont be much different than this review.
Garageband wont split tracks
I have been using Garageband to edit some audio conversations. Unfortunately, I ran into a prohibitive bug that means I can no longer use garageband. I have researched online and have not seen a solution to this problem. Other users of Garageband running intel Macs have noted this issue and I think it may be specific to intel mac users. In any case, I'll have to find another way to edit my audio. Take a look at what happens when I try to trim the fat from a conversation. Here is the before image:
then I press apple-T to split the track and:
Errr, Apple, please fix this. That is not how the application is supposed to behave!
There are some others who have had the same issues on the apple support board: 1, 2, 3
You have committed copyright infringement. This is your second warning
Worried about getting busted using Bittorrent? You probably should be since it doesnt hide your identity. It seems that downloading movies is more likely to get you busted than other content. I have several friends who got notices from their internet provider after downloading movies. You may be able to do that safely too!
What you have to do is run a piece of software in the background called "PeerGuardian 2". The way it works is by blocking IP addresses. Your list is updated based on a master list, and you can choose if you want to block corporations, educational institutions, governments, etc.
In non-technical terms, internet addresses, just like physical addresses can be traced to their owners. By blocking addresses that are more likely to be tracking copyright infringement or sending bad data, it enables you to sneak under the radar and continue to download.
As always, be careful where you get your torrents from and use a reputable source like piratebay or tvrss. While I am on the subject, I'll give a plug for µTorrent too! It's a great windows based bittorrent client. If you are on a mac, Bitrocket is increasing in quality at a really fast pace. The built in search is awesome.
Worried about getting busted for music? allofmp3 is still up and running, and according to them is legal! I dont know about that, but $2 an album is the price music should be!
Free replacement for Microsoft Excel and Word
Google Docs & Spreadsheets are now available at docs.google.com. This is the first time we are seeing a rebranded writely combined with Google's spreadsheets to form the basis for Google's foray into the realm of office software. I imagine it wont take much before this could be used to create nearly every document in academia. With the autosaving feature, there would be no room for the excuse that your harddrive crashed!
High Fructose Corn Syrup Wiki
I've started a new wiki focused around High Fructose Corn Syrup. You should check it out and add some of your favorite non high fructose corn syrup foods!
Unashamed self promotion.
Check out these scans of an article about Onmac.net that were in the japanese magazine Ascii. Does this count as my five minutes of fame? I wonder what the article actually says...
Translation:
The Man Who Opened Forbidden Doors
...??
Windows Vista Beta 2 5384 available for Public Download
Get your copy here! Hot of the press! Microsoft has released a public beta of Windows Vista Beta 2. They are using a download manager (somewhat like bittorrent) from Akamai that frankly sucks. It keeps stalling and saying it has lost the connection. I wish there was a torrent up there of this file since that is a much better way to download than DD or Akamai's crappy download manager. What a joke.
File sharing vs. legality. Why we do it, and how to fix it.
This post is going to be a little longer than usual.
I would like to try and tackle this huge issue and succinctly explain the major reasons people pirate content on the internet. I wont spend time defining piracy. There are three major categories that make up the majority of downloads on the internet: music, video, software. The decision to pirate vs. pay for these items is a combination of several factors: desirability, price, accessibility, respect for the copyright holder.
Desirability
This one is pretty straightforward. I'd define this as 'how much the person wants the material'. For example, pirate A is a huge Nine inch Nails fan and wants to get hold of the new album ASAP! The album appears on the net a month before hitting the shelves. There is much free content out there, but most of the time, the marketing to make us want the expensive stuff serves its purpose and people find a way to get content, one way or another.
Price
The price is someting that is hotly contested by avid pirates. Keep in mind that most pirates are males between 14 and 25. This demographic has the brains, but not necessarily the disposible income to buy all the latest "media". What determines the price of a CD, or the price of a piece of software (Microsoft Office 2003 Pro lists for $499). This media - music, dvds, software has almost NO resale value. I recently sold Prince of Persia - sands of time for XBOX for $5 when at the time of purchase (approx 1.5 years ago), the software was worth $45 - $55. All of these products lose most of their value as soon as you unpack them. The lack of resale potential combined with the high initial price makes these products a pretty unappealing purchase.
Accessibility
I can download The Da Vinci Code, Microsoft Office 2003, "The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth" any time I chose. If I want to purchase these items for my consumption, I can go to the movie theater for a single use experience of The Da Vinci Code, but I have to drive there, find parking, go for a specific showing and bring money. It is not a simple affair to see the movie. Certainly not as simple as downloading it. If I want Microsoft Office, I can go to a store and buy it, or I can buy it online and have it shipped to me. Both of these take more effort than downloading. For the CD, "The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth", I have two good choices. I can download from a pirate site, or I can download from the iTunes music store with high quality, properly tagged and extremely easy access to the material. The success of the iTunes music store is proof that accessibility is a key factor in an individuals decision to buy vs. pirate. I can certainly say that software that is inexpensive (less than $50) and downloadable online is much more likely to be purchased by me. I am less likely to drop $4 - 500 on Microsoft Office when it is quicker and easier to download it.
Respect for the Copyright Holder
Let's face it. The RIAA and MPAA are not making any friends by threatening and strongarming money out of their potential customers. Their mentality to punish those who do different than what they dictate is the norm is straight out of a dystopian science fiction novel - 1984, Brave New World - etc... Most young people feel that the prices the record companies set are unfair and unnecessary. For a while, I thought it might be good to send Artists money directly after downloading their songs, but found this was too challenging. The record companies certainly play a part in bringing new music to market, but they have had their day and dinosaurs will die. The movie studios use the US as a test market for new releases and then adjust their strategies for marketing to other regions. This is not possible anymore, especially for blockbusters that will be downloaded. The consumer refuses to be the guinea pig anymore. The consumer refuses to eat what is for dinner. The consumer is fed up with being tossed around and told what to listen to, what to watch, what to buy. The organizations making movies, music, software churn out crap that is the minimum amount of effort for the maximum amount of return and then convince the consumer to pay for it. After years of being spoon fed, the consumer is now a teenager and does not like being told what to consume. The "Copyright Holder" has lost the respect of the consumer and now expects to win it back by attacking the consumer, by trying to extort money from the consumer. This is reason enough to not support these copyright holders.
These items combined help people make the decision to pirate or not pirate. Let's run through a scenario and take "The Da Vinci Code" movie that just came out. The movie received terrible reviews but still made a killing in its opening weekend. The poor reviews made the movie less desirable to attend. The price of taking my girlfriend, all included would be about $20. I would have to drive to the movies, park and decide on a specific time to go. There is currently no other means to see this movie. I dont think that a movie like the Da Vinci Code which has bad reviews, and is probably bad (I havent seen it) should get my money. Im interested to see it, but dont want to send the message to hollywood that they can churn out crap and I'll pay for it. If I do see the movie, I wont see it in the theaters. The pirated copies at the moment are terrible quality - probably being filmed in the theater, so I will wait until the DVD release. Dan Brown also seems like a scumbag and has already made a boatload of money. One of the interesting things about media is that after a certain point, every additional unit sold is just more and more icing. Let's face it. Dan Brown doesnt need my extra money. Sony Pictures doesnt need my money, they already made enough to cover their costs. Isn't it just greedy if they want more icing on their cake? I know, I know... it has to pay for all the unsuccessful movies they make. Simple answer to that is, get better at your job. Dont put out shitty movies.
Enough with the bitching, where's the solution?
Alright. Well, I think iTunes is halfway there. The copyright holders are still too greedy though. The solution to this whole dilemma is to make copyrighted material available for cheap, and make it easily accessible. Dont get greedy. If more people want it, lower the price. Dont milk the consumer because you can. Microsoft sells office 2003 pro for $499 because they can. Yes, it is expensive to produce, and yes they deserve to recoup their costs. As unit sales go up, the cost should come down. This should hold true for Music, TV, Video Games, Software, Movies. Im a demanding consumer, and I want things when I want them, and how I want them. I want to watch my TV shows without commercials. I dont want to have to pay $10 to see a new movie in a theater, and I dont want to pay $55 - 60 for a video game I will play only a few times. I definitely dont want to pay $499 for software that Microsoft has created a monopoly with by locking out competitors.
Succinctly, and briefly, the solution is: focus on meeting the consumers wants and needs. Stop trying to milk us like we are a herd of cows. If software, music, video games, TV, movies were available in excellent quality, and not expensive - then there would be no pirates, because it wouldnt be worth the extra effort. Until then, there are a lot of users out there who will find compelling reasons to consider piracy as an alternative to paying. No amount of lawsuits can or will stop it.
The best World Cup 2006 spreadsheet
I was sent this as a mass forward and this sheet is fantastic. I tried to search for it because my version had a bunch of bugs and got a junky, poorly done sheets back so I thought I would post the best damn world cup excel sheet up here. Probably the best thing about it is the TV schedule so it shows all the local times.
Features (from the website)
There are 4 sheets in the workbook. The Match Schedule sheet lists every match in match day order and is where you enter the scores. The Groups sheet is the list of group tables. The Wallchart sheet is a chart display of match results for the knockout stages. The TV schedule sheet lists each match in date/time order displaying both the German kick off time and your local time.
Each country has their flag displayed for the matches and the group tables.
Clicking on a country flag will play the national anthem and display the lyrics if possible. Note that this requires Internet Explorer to be your default web browser.
You can select your favourite team by clicking in cell to the right of the text 'My Favourite Team'. All matches involving your favourite team will be highlighted in all 4 sheets.
A map of Germany is displayed in the Match Schedule sheet. When you select the row for the match the row will be highlighted and the city where the match is being played will be coloured in the map.
Clicking on on a city in the map will display a picture of the stadium for 2 seconds.
The Match Schedule sheet will automatically scroll up or down based on your currently selected cell so that the map is in view.
After the scores for a match have been entered the group tables will be updated and sorted in accordance with the official FIFA rules for the tournament. If a group is tied after the first 6 criteria, a userform will appear asking you to rank the teams for the result of drawing lots by the FIFA World Cup committee. If you make a mistake click the Draw Lots button at the bottom of the Groups sheet.
After each group is complete (i.e. the 6 matches for the group have been played) the round of 16 team names will begin to appear in the match day list.
If there is a tie after extra time in the knockout stages (match day 49 onwards) a userform will appear asking you to enter the results of the penalty shootout.
The page setup has been set for you to print each sheet on a single page. You can freely adjust these settings as you please.
Skype on your Mac in Windows & OS X – Griffin iMic
The aptly named Griffin iMic
OS X Review
In OS X, it is pretty straightforward - just plug it in to the USB port and select it in your sound preferences. You can use the iMic for sound output on all sounds, or just in Skype.
It works very well as a consumer level device if you want to conference call with friends and family, or produce your own podcast. It also has stereo mic inputs so if you have a fancy stereo mic or want to use a splitter to mic a room in stereo, you can do that too! Im thinking about using it as an inexpensive way to do a podcast. There are two benefits using my external headset with this device over the internal mic. One is that people dont hear when I am typing and the other is that it my headset mic doesnt pick up all the background noise in the room too like the MacBook's mic does.\
Windows Review
In Windows XP, it's as easy as OS X. Just plug in the iMic and Windows recognizes it as an external sound input. Go into the Sounds and Audio Devices properties in the control panel. Under the "Audio" tab, you can select the iMic USB audio system for both Sound Playback and Sound recording.
Capturing sound with the iMic seems to be pretty reasonable. I have my Sennheiser PC150 headphones plugged in and my fellow skypers tell me I come in loud and clear. What's cool with skype in Windows is you can tell it to ring on your external speakers, but play back audio on the headset. This feature is not yet built into skype for Mac. We're only on 1.6 whereas windows is at 2.0 
This gadget truly adds value to my Mac setup and although it tries to look ipod-ish, it's not that stylish. I would recommend it though to anyone sick of dealing with the soundcard in Bootcamp Windows and anyone else with a MacBook who wants to use Skype or other conference software.
