Church folk love Apples. Not the fruit, the computer (but you knew that).
I spent some time as a Creative Director for Children’s Ministry in a megachurch in the Cincinnati area. When I was first hired, they handed me a silver, shiny laptop with a little white apple on the lid. I looked at the IT guy and said:
What do I do with this?
The worship and creative arts team were all given Macs to use. This was a decision made by some Mac fanboi in the late 90’s and still in place today. I had no choice, it was Apple or nothing.
Problem was, I was a Windows guy…
I had not used a Mac since high school. I grew to love the little sucker, but often found I had to barrow a co-workers computer if I had to participate in some non-Apple programing (you know, things with Active X controls).
Then something heavenly happened, Apple started using Intel processors. People started dual booting Windows XP and Apple OSX.
Soon after, a nifty little program called Parallels hit the shelves. It allowed you to run a copy of Windows within your already booted OSX. Not too long after, VMWare introduced a similar product named Fusion. In the early days, Fusion’s features trumped Parallels. Since both have progressed over the years, we have seen both products offer similar features. Recently, Parallels has matched Fusion’s support of Ubuntu Linux.
What do these Programs do?
Glad you asked. The main feature is, they let you run Windows (or Linux) on a Mac without very little tweaking. If you have a (legal) copy of Windows, you can install it and run it without having to dual boot. Windows becomes available to you just by logging into OSX. Back in the old days (like, 2007) you would have to open and run Windows in a second window and switch back and forth.
These two programs allow you to run Windows as though it is a part of OSX. Simply put, it overlays your desktop with icons and menus from your Windows install. You can run Windows programs just as though they were installed native to your Mac.
What Situations would this be Helpful?
These pieces of software can seem like great ideas, but some people really have trouble figuring out how they are useful or justifiable.
If you are the church IT guy, and looking for some points to throw into your proposal, here are some solid ways this can benefit you:
- Low cost to implement. $79 for the software and then a Windows license (OEM’s can be under $100).
- Expensive software remains useful. If someone in your environment requests a Mac, you know longer have to worry about upgrading the thousands of dollars worth of accompanying software (ie. Logos, Filemaker Pro, Adobe CSx, etc.).
- Allows you to slowly migrate from one infrastructure to another without incurring massive costs.
- Allows creative designers to test on a variety of machines and browsers without having to physically own multiple machines.
- Allows the easy upgrade of products like MS Office without having to manage separate VLK’s (thereby giving you a better cost).
- Allows coders to test programs and scripts on multiple OS’s without buying several systems or setting up massive test environments.
- Allows easy system restore on PC. VMWare uses something called “snapshots” to let users go back in time and “put right what once went wrong.”
Which is better, Parallels or Fusion?
That kind of depends. Parallels is said to have more frills and better performance while VMWare is more stable and has support for more OS’s.
As someone who works with VMWare everyday, I will admit I am biased and would choose their product in a heartbeat. I would recommend downloading the demos and testing each to see which is a better fit.
RevRod says
In our organization, we don’t issue computers but we do have recommendations. Many of our staff raise their own support and they include the price of a computer in their fundraising effort. This has led to a mixed environment with Windows (various flavors), OSX and a growing number of Linux users.
Having a Mac with VM software has been invaluable in supporting this varied staff. The ability to create VMs to mix and match OSes (WinXP, Win7, OSX), multiple versions of Office (2003, 2004, 2007, 2008) and browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, IE7, IE8) has been invaluable.
I’ve used both Parallels and Fusion but, these days, I’m using VirtualBox from Sun (now Oracle). It’s not as fast nor as many features but 1) it works and 2) it’s free.
Don Dudley says
I have not looked too much into Virtualbox. Since it is in the price range, I will have to check it out.
Daniel says
What game were you playing?
Oh yeah, and I’m totally a WINdows guy too.
Stephen Bateman says
Nice. Btw Need for Speed 2:hot pursuit, great game 😉
I’ve thought extensively about doing this, but right now I get everything I need in one OS (mac) that it isn’t worth the $$ to me…Maybe someday.
Chris says
Good article, but I would have thought someone writing about technology would have found the spelling/grammar check button in his writing program by now.
But seriously, I’ve been thinking about getting one of these programs and eliminating BootCamp to help free up space on my MacBook hard drive and to make getting into Windows easier on the MacBook and my iMac. I didn’t realize they came with free demo versions–I’ll have to look into that soon.
Don says
I submitted the draft for approval and then could not go back and edit it. My apologies on that note.
As for the demo, yea, they are free and full use. Just timed. Others are talking about virtualbox. Its open source and might be worth using if you dont want to drop the $80. Also, look for student discounts.
Tom says
Vocationally, I build software on top of .NET so we’re a full-on Microsoft shop. At home, I tend to stay with the open-source languages – PHP, Ruby, etc – but do so on Windows or Linux. I’m not anti-Mac, I’ve just yet to drop the cash on a MacBook because, y’know, it doesn’t come cheap ;).
That said, I’ve never used Parallels, have used Fusion and liked it, but more often than not, I actually use VirtualBox..
Eric Rovtar says
When I first got a Mac, a friend turned me on to Parallels. I’ve never used Fusion, but I have to say that I have no problems with Parallels. The only time I ran into a hiccup was when I didn’t Suspend my Windows Session before putting my computer to sleep. When I came back the Mac had locked up and I had to hard start it. I lost the Virtual Machine and had to create a new one, but since that one time, I’ve accidentally done the same thing with no problems.
I wish there was a way to have one program running without Windows taking up so many resources though. As soon as Parallels starts, my fan kicks on, so I tend to not leave it up and running unless I have to. It does make using Visual Studio a whole lot easier though.