Episode 58 - The Best Way To Run Windows On Your Mac [Discussion] [Archive]

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travislopes

06-30-2008, 10:02 PM

CNET's Tom Merritt answers the great VMWare vs. Parallels question. Which is best for running Windows applications inside of OS X? Watch the show and find out!

Watch and download this episode of Systm here. (http://revision3.com/systm/virtualpc/)

travislopes

06-30-2008, 10:45 PM

If anyone plans on getting Parallels Desktop for Mac, MacHeist (http://macheist.com) is offering it for $49 ($39 if you bought one of their previous bundles) along with a copy of MacPilot. Act quick though, because they are ending this offer tonight at midnight EST.

dontbanbugmenot

07-01-2008, 12:12 AM

I can't believe I just watched a whole episode about virtualization on a Macintosh and no mention that you can run Window, Linux, BSD or x86 operating system known to man on a Mac, but if VMWare or Parallels even tries to run OSX Apple will sue them. Both companies would love to allow OSX and have said it is not a technological barrier, it is Apple stopping them.

I will never understand all of the Revision3 Apple love. The consistently ignore how Apple does not play nice with other. Can you imagine the blowup at Rev3 if Windows put in their Eula that you cannot install Windows on Apple hardware.

Why did you spend the whole show focusing on running virtualization on OSX? You know what guys? VMWare and Parallels also runs on Windows and Linux. You can also run a host of other operating systems besides Windows.

P.S. I only used a BugMeNot account because Rev3's forum registration is down right now.

serafina

07-01-2008, 12:31 AM

hy did you spend the whole show focusing on running virtualization on OSX? You know what guys? VMWare and Parallels also runs on Windows and Linux. You can also run a host of other operating systems besides Windows.

We had to choose one setup for the demo, and OS X --> Windows is the most common. We did mention that you could run other OS's as well.

Episodes 47, 48, 54, and 56 were purely Windows-centric. We havent featured OS X on Systm in at least 6 months (ever?)

No matter what we do, we just cant please everyone. We try to strike a balance, but someone always complains, regardless.

tehboris

07-01-2008, 12:57 AM

Tom talks about Windows activation as if it's a normal thing that software does, it isn't and that anoys me. Thanks for listening. :)

guytheninja

07-01-2008, 03:37 AM

We had to choose one setup for the demo, and OS X --> Windows is the most common. We did mention that you could run other OS's as well.

Episodes 47, 48, 54, and 56 were purely Windows-centric. We havent featured OS X on Systm in at least 6 months (ever?)

No matter what we do, we just cant please everyone. We try to strike a balance, but someone always complains, regardless.

Well you guys totally left us ReactOS guys out once again, shame shame shame. :D :D :D

http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html

(I'm joking, I'm just stirring the pot).

headshot1485

07-01-2008, 04:00 AM

I wanted to do the survey noted at the end of the episode, but it appears to be down.

Good episode

guytheninja

07-01-2008, 04:29 AM

BTW, I did like this episode, Tom Merritt is a sharp guy.

metalpres

07-01-2008, 05:11 AM

rolcol

07-01-2008, 05:43 AM

kylefsu32

07-01-2008, 06:24 AM

I love Systm, it is one of my top 4 Rev3 shows! But this episode made me feel like I was watching Tekzilla. Systm to me is more of a potpourri of tech that is a mix of hacking, modifying, and creating. Virtualization of Windows hit the mainstream when Parallels and VMWare were released. This is what I want Tekzilla to be more like, a mix of questions and tutorials (so yes, I basically want TSS back, so what?!?!). In Systm, I want to see tech that is pushing the limits, putting its toe over the line, and isn't sorry about it.

Just my two cents, take it, leave it, but please respect it. KThx

computoman

07-01-2008, 07:03 AM

Well you guys totally left us ReactOS guys out once again, shame shame shame. :D :D :D

http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html

(I'm joking, I'm just stirring the pot).

Noticed that reactos has a newer version than the last one I downloaded. Used to use qemu and reactos on my g3's with linux. Tried xp with qemu, but it was dog slow on that old mac. Can not wait to try the newer version of reactos on an intel box with linux and qemu.

Rumor has it that MS is coming out with a new version of their os and I think it is called Midori, Hope it is better than Microsoft Winflp (alleged trimmed down version if xp that never made it to the mainstream).

Watched the episode for only a minute or so and then went on to do something else.

bani-banan

07-01-2008, 11:26 AM

This guy seemed really uneducated about all things virtualization, he knew pretty much nothing about how virtualization actually works, he knew very little about how to use either of the 2 products he was pretty much claiming to be an expert with, he didnt know anything at all about VirtualBox, despite it being as good if not better than the other 2 not to mention free. I cant believe people like that can make a living doing work that poorly.

Tell me, what did he miss?

What is a difference between virtualization and emulation?

Emulation or simulation
The virtual machine simulates[clarify] the complete hardware, allowing an unmodified "guest" OS for a completely different CPU (using a different instruction set) to be run. This approach has long been used to enable the creation of software for new processors before they were physically available. Examples include Bochs, PearPC, PowerPC version of Virtual PC, QEMU without acceleration, and the Hercules emulator. Emulation is implemented using a variety of techniques, from state machines to the use of dynamic recompilation on a full virtualization platform. See also Emulate or Simulate and List of emulators.

flashbak

07-01-2008, 04:00 PM

Did Patrick really say "spring-loaded ass"...

Anyone care to elaborate? :)

plux

07-01-2008, 05:13 PM

A feature that I relly love with Parallels that I miss in VMWare fusion is that Parallels let you take how many snapshots of the system as you want, and go back and forth how you want, while (at least the stable version) of VMWare only let you take on single snapshot.

For me as a developer it's really useful to have all thoose snapshots, for example with my Windows installations I have a snapshot taken when the system is clean and if something bad happens I can always go back to that, so if I screw up something, I just go back, and if that I wanted is working, I just make a new snapshot, test the next thing, make a new snapshot etc.

Snapshots can eat away some diskspace, but it is really useful, and can save alot of time sometimes. :)

samureye

07-01-2008, 08:22 PM

Great episode. As for the haters, chill out. Apple and Windows are the most popular OSs according to the results of a poll I made up.

ddreier

07-01-2008, 08:48 PM

Besides me feeling this fits better in an episode of Tekzilla, this was a really good episode.

But I have one nit to pick: For some reason the 'edited in' ads in Tekzilla and Systm are really starting to get on my nerves. I don't mind them spread out, but cut in like that is getting annoying. Maybe Patrick needs to watch some more CrankyGeeks and study John C's segways :).

trapper1204

07-02-2008, 05:57 AM

VMware like the apps your tested, including Vbox ( my favorite ) do not emulate anything on intel Macs.
Emulation refers to tricking software into running on unsupported hardware... Windows on the old PPC Based macs would be a prime example

Virtualization is just how it sounds.. its virtual computer.. virtual system.. the software is designed to run on the hardware. Much better than Emulation.

Also.. VBox rules.. much much faster than both vmware or parallels.

Travis

fiercedeitylink1

07-02-2008, 02:19 PM

This definitely was one of the least technical episodes of Systm (and the most subjective). What? No benchmarks? No Crossover or Virtualbox?

It's scary if that many people requested this... You can basically get the same information from the program's website (video walk-throughs, feature list, etc.).

Also, with XP, Microsoft doesn't care how many times you've activated it. You can use the keypad on your phone to enter the activation number if you don't want to speak every character. I think they ask, "have you activated this copy of XP on more than one machine?" And you just answer, "no". Obviously, only do this if this is true.

quantumfreak

07-02-2008, 05:02 PM

I agree that such a demonstration would have been better suited for Tekzilla. No need to beat up on Tom over it. This was his experience on his machine. Patrick should have done this himself using all three programs, but instead brought in someone else for their thoughts. It was still a good episode, just on the wrong program.

rever75

07-03-2008, 12:30 PM

Hey I did like this episode although I do not run a Mac. I personally run VirtualBox on my systems. In the past I used VMWare and Parallels and liked them both but feel VirtualBox is faster and a better product. Then again I am all for FOSS. Would love to see a show on VirtualBox, I am sure Sun or the Developers would give you all the info you need.

technobob

07-09-2008, 10:29 PM

VirtualBox Rocks!

Hey Patrick thanks for mentioning VirtualBox I had never heard of it before. I had been using VMWare and was going to buy a copy with the next stable release but not now. I have been playing with VirtualBox all day and love it, sure it lacks some of the polish that Parallels and VMWare has but it has one thing they don't have a free price tag :D