My Professional Blog

I recently purchased a MacBook Pro in order to improve my development hardware. One of the lures was the ability to use Parallels to set up any number of Guest Operating Systems to run other applications or simply to explore and learn. I have an immediate need to set up Windows XP Professional as I keep my financials in Quicken. Unfortunately, the Mac offering of Quicken is always many features behind.

I have no complaint against Parallels as yet since I have yet to really get going. It should be pointed out that the initial install of Parallels gray-screened on me consistently when running my first virtual machine. After googling, I discovered that I needed only to download the latest build from their website. So far, so good on that.

So once I was able to get Parallels to run my first virtual machine, I began the process of creating a Windows XP Professional install. Except that I had overlooked the fact that the only CD I had was an upgrade CD. I have XP on my desktop, my old Dell laptop, and on my PowerBook and yet I don’t have an original install CD. The PowerBook copy was obtained through the Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac, but unfortunately that install appears to be contained into a proprietary virtual disk. So though I have three running copies, I do not have an install CD. This is frustrating since I’ll basically have to buy a copy in order to install it. Now, I think I can be clever and buy the cheapest version and then upgrade, but still it, its money out of my pocket.

On the other hand, I have an Ubuntu Linux distribution CD that was acquired for free. This makes me question why Microsoft insists on charging for their OS products. Shouldn’t their strategy be to give those away and then try to lock users in with the sale of their applications? It seems they should be minimizing the friction for the sale and propagation of their other products.

In the meantime, I have to consider whether I’ll buy a copy of XP knowing full well that Vista is around the corner. I probably won’t on principle.

I recently purchased a MacBook Pro in order to improve my development hardware. One of the lures was the ability to use Parallels to set up any number of Guest Operating Systems to run other applications or simply to explore and learn. I have an immediate need to set up Windows XP Professional as I keep my financials in Quicken. Unfortunately, the Mac offering of Quicken is always many features behind.

I have no complaint against Parallels as yet since I have yet to really get going. It should be pointed out that the initial install of Parallels gray-screened on me consistently when running my first virtual machine. After googling, I discovered that I needed only to download the latest build from their website. So far, so good on that.

So once I was able to get Parallels to run my first virtual machine, I began the process of creating a Windows XP Professional install. Except that I had overlooked the fact that the only CD I had was an upgrade CD. I have XP on my desktop, my old Dell laptop, and on my PowerBook and yet I don’t have an original install CD. The PowerBook copy was obtained through the Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac, but unfortunately that install appears to be contained into a proprietary virtual disk. So though I have three running copies, I do not have an install CD. This is frustrating since I’ll basically have to buy a copy in order to install it. Now, I think I can be clever and buy the cheapest version and then upgrade, but still it, its money out of my pocket.

On the other hand, I have an Ubuntu Linux distribution CD that was acquired for free. This makes me question why Microsoft insists on charging for their OS products. Shouldn’t their strategy be to give those away and then try to lock users in with the sale of their applications? It seems they should be minimizing the friction for the sale and propagation of their other products.

In the meantime, I have to consider whether I’ll buy a copy of XP knowing full well that Vista is around the corner. I probably won’t on principle.