VMware

Ok, so if I haven't sold you on VMware by reading my last post, maybe after this post you will know more why I'm such an advocate.

First of all, the company I work for was willing to send me to VMware training this past August. If VMware training won't make you an advocate, not sure what will. Besides that, I really do think they have the most mature product out there. So anyhow, yeah, I went to the VMware v3.5 FastTrack training and a month after the class I took the VCP exam and passed!! WOOT! I think that's the first test I've had to take in like 8 years! I'd have to say that it was a pretty big challenge and if you weren't interested in the product to begin with, it'd be tough to pass the exam. I studied for about 6 hours every week for a month after the class - going over the material from the class and I got 85% on the test. I'd have to say that I definitely think the class and certification has benefited me in my job already - there a bunch of things I was able to fix in our environment because of it.

If you ever take the class and have hopes to become a VCP, I think the best tip I had was to just go over the class manual every night and each night take the mock exam off their website, then copy the answers you get wrong into a document and study them out. They give you 100 tries on the mock exam, I probably took it 10 or 15 times and I think it helped me a lot. I wouldn't take the exam any later than a month after the class so that the material is still fresh. If you have more time than I did, you may want to take the exam only one or two weeks after the class.

I feel really blessed to have such a job that they were willing to train me in times that are a bit tough to even find a job. The class was not cheap either! A couple weeks after my class, I found out that any and all training for the remainder of the year was cut from the budget for our whole division, so a double blessing!

VMware Fusion for the Mac

Lots has happened since last post - probably why I haven't posed in a while eh? (No, I'm not Canadian - not that I don't like Canadians, I know some really nice ones.)

First, I'm still lovin' my Mac! I've learned a bunch of tips and tricks to make it my own and work great for me. I just can't say enough about it, get one - NOW! I was a bit reluctant at first, but I saw the need to run a Windows VM on top of my Mac, so I purchased a copy of VMware Fusion for Mac and am running a copy of Windows XP on my Mac. The only real need I had was to run Quicken. Apparently Intuit decided that it wasn't going to continue development of Quicken past 2007 for the Mac. And I wasn't about to downgrade so that I could run it natively on my Mac. The only other choice was to keep my Windows machine (which had been hacked by some kind of virus running around on our network) or to go virtual. Virtual proved to be the best choice since I can power off the VM as soon as I'm done with it and use it just for Quicken - takes up little space.

One of the coolest things about Fusion is that it can run in a mode called "Unity" which allows applications within the VM to run outside the VM window and appear as of they are running natively. This is a totally bizarre thing but so cool! So when I run Quicken, it looks as if it's running as a normal Mac application with the exception that it does not have the normal Mac title bar and buttons, but rather the Windows ones.

Another great thing that Fusion has going for it is 3D support. One day last week I decided to try this out, I couldn't hardly believe that it would really work that well. I dusted off my copy of Rise of Nations (it's a game for the PC) and inserted the CD. The Autorun menu popped right up and I began installing. During the install there is a part that does a hardware check, it zipped past so fast I hardly even saw it! The installation got done and I launched the game. It loaded faster than I remember it loading on my PC! I began a game and I was really amazed, it performed way better than I imagined and I might even suffice to say that it was better than my PC. Now granted that my new Macbook is a lot faster than my PC is, a virtualized Windows instance seemed to hold enough water to keep the game running great! I'll also note that I took a snapshot of my VM before I installed Rise of Nations so when I was done testing, ZIP! - I reverted back to the original state of my Windows VM and it was like it never happened! What I think I'll do is build a VM for each PC game I might want to play and burn the VM image to a DVD, then just copy the DVD over and fire it up to play - no dinking around with installs and entering codes and hacking stuff to get it to work and then just to have to do it again later - keeps things clean!

Well, I've rambled on for quite some time now - I need to write up some more stuff about VMware as it pertains to my recent history. In conclusion, buy a Mac and a copy of VMware Fusion - all you'll ever need.

Newness Zone

Everyone does it to some extent. They get something new they've been waiting for for a long time and they are pretty distracted with it for a while until the newness wears off. That's about where I am.

I purchased the much awaited MacBook 13.3 yesterday and am continuing to explore it's every facet. It brings me back to my early days of computing when I spent all my waking hours messing around with the computer to know how it ticks. Since OS X is new to me, this is an exciting time. So far I really like interface and hardware. They have really built a great machine here and I must say I am very impressed - coming from the PC world, nothing can touch the kind of elegance and just down right slickness.

I think the thing I like the most is the OS's features to support zooming and inverted colors. Due to my eye condition, it allows me to sit at a comfortable distance and still read. On the PC I have to have special software to do this and suffer the performance issues thereof.

My second favorite feature I think has to be the quality of the hardware, especially the keyboard, backlighting, sturdiness and size. The thing just feels like a tank but is light as a feather (compared to other laptops), so weird.

I am slowly learning all the cool keyboard and touchpad shortcuts, one thing that I almost panicked about was the missing home/end keys. I'm like "oh no!" because I use those key ALL the time on the PC. Good thing you can just do Command+arrow to jump around a document and command+a to select all text, etc.

As I'm writing this, I'm uploading my first video done in iMovie to YouTube. I think it turned out OK considering it only took me 2 hours from start to finish and I hadn't touched the software before I started the project.

I'm learning new things about it every time I turn it on, and so far, I can't say that I don't like much. I'll keep posting as this journey progresses.

Arrived

This is just a short post - from my new MAC! I was finally able to save the money and pick up the MacBook Pro 13.3" today! SO EXCITED!! I will post more about the experience and all the cool stuff it can do.

Whaaa?

Ok, I'm going through my daily barrage of emails and I pop open my buy.com ad email and scroll through all the cool tech toys on sale. I see LCD's, iPods, and a whole array of other things and then, at the very bottom, as if trying to hide ... whaaa? ...

The Russel Hobbs Crystal Encrusted Bling Toaster



Ok, who is Russel Hobbs?

The Time Has Come

The time has come, in 9 more days, my computing life will change forever.

I have sought what I want: Apple MacBook Pro 13.3"
I have saved for what I want: Not putting it on credit
I have set the date: July 18th
I will buy it: by walking into an Apple store
I will own it: by walking out of the Apple store with it in hand

If you're a tech geek, you know the anticipation of obtaining a new piece of hardware, it's exciting.

I have been scouring all kinds of mac sites and watching all the training videos from apple.com, only to learn how much fun I'm going to have.

My next post will probably be from my new computer!

Mac vs. PC - Part II - Will Dark Become the New Light?

Previously I had mentioned that my IT career has given me PC-only experience and given me the child's-play view of Macs, but something new was on the horizon, something that could shake my viewpoint.

Life has a funny way of progressing. Early in my career, I exhibited great jubilation towards all things computer and had a blast researching any new technology or code that would do something cool, and maybe save time on the side. As my career progressed and the more I was shaped into corporate life, the less gung-ho I was becoming about messing around with PCs and the more I was just trying to seek out the quickest solution to a problem and move on. To add to this, I got married and shortly after, had a child. Life now had a different meaning, purpose and focus. I could no longer spend most of my free time hacking, but I didn't lose that need for technology.

Questions started to form in me, why am I spending all this time trying to fix this when I could be spending it doing something more meaningful? Things that weren't work before now became work.

I began to see some of my coworkers and friends using Apple products. I respected them and even took a close look and their offerings, but still had no intentions to buy one, after all, they were like 3 times the cost of a PC.

Statements like "Macs just work" and "I've never had a problem with mine" began to stand out where previously were filtered out just past my ears. I began to think, "hey, maybe there is some basis for this 'easy to use' OS"

Stage 1 - A simple solution producing a need

A few months back, we decided that it might be time for us to buy a Tivo-type appliance or to build one. Utilizing the inner-geek, I immediately threw out the notion of buying a pre-boxed appliance. That's just too easy, and expensive! I should be able to build one for cheaper, have more features and be more fun! After months of research and figuring, I decided that we should probably start out slow by utilizing my current desktop PC as our media center PC. This could be done with no investment now but allow at least some media center features. We wouldn't be able to watch TV or record it yet until we add a TV tuner and some software, but we could watch online movies and share our pictures and home movies from there. The problem with this simple solution was that my PC would no longer function as my surf-n-email box because it would be too cumbersome to fire up the projector or reconfigure it constantly to work with my LCD too, all while being tucked behind our couch. So the need arose for another system, but what kind of system? A small form-factor laptop would meet this need well. Portable enough to use in the kitchen or even while in bed, but big enough so I could type well and even watch the occasional video without firing up the projector.

Stage 2 - A simple need turns a sharp corner

This new need immediately pushed me looking into the Netbook market. These class of machines were just what I was looking for, something small for surfing and checking email, weather, etc. I looked at the ASUS Eee PC and the Dell minis. I was excited, a new system, small yet powerful. I could tote it with me and even use it for troubleshooting when I was at the datacenter or even mom's house -- perfect!

Then, a storm hit and my eyes fall upon something else. I can't explain it exactly, but at the time, it seemed natural. In looking through ads, my eyes came across a 13" Macbook Pro. Why would I even consider this? First, it was so much more money! Second, I know nothing about using a Mac. Third, I don't own one now, would it even work with anything else I had? Fourth, what would my family think? But despite this, I couldn't help be be drawn in my that part of me that is Woz - the Mac had called my name.

Stage 3 - Just past that corner is a slope you can't climb back up

Hmm I thought, I know people say these things are built like tanks. This new unibody sure upholds that. They sure are beautifully crafted. Simple yet powerful. I read 5-star review after 5-star review. I couldn't find anything bad about these. I then compared it to the Dell mini. Even among the highest reviews, the Dell had issues. Myself knowing Dell and Windows, knew some of those issues. I even thought about the Dell with Linux on it - a better solution than Windows I thought. But I kept coming back to the Mac. It beats Linux, I thought. It has a bigger following, more development history and isn't as pieced together.

Then I thought about the accessibility of owning a Mac. I have pretty low vision and require a larger screen and sometimes inverted colors to see properly. The company I work for purchased some screen-enhancing software for me called Zoomtext. It enlarges the screen and allows me to invert the color. I thought, Zoomtext doesn't have a Mac version, this might be the end of quest for a small laptop right here. I went to an Apple store and talked to one of the sales guys to see what, if any, accessibility features Macs might have. I found out that it has pretty much every feature Zoomtext has plus it's native to the OS, so all the zooming and scrolling performs much better and it won't mess with the browser and how it works (ZoomText causes some web pages to break).

That piece of information was given to me this last weekend, it served as the last nail in the Windows coffin - there's no turning back from here folks. Once you've reached this place, as I have, you won't settle for less. Apple just outdoes PC in so many ways. If you're looking to simplify your life, yet not limit the power your computer has, it's the clear choice.

I now only await funding - the biggest problem here. I hope to have enough over the next few months to go out and snag me one, then it will be trying to get the rest of my family on them (to free up my time in supporting them).

Go ahead, make that dark side the new light side.