Open source
so, i purchased Parallels for my Macbook. Parallels is an application that allows me to run Windows on my Mac. i was able to take my Virtual PC install on my main computer and copy the Windows and Parallels recognized it on my Macbook once i copied it over. i had Windows up and running inside of an hour. Windows runs far, far better than it ever ran in Virtual PC, fwiw. and, i am running XP as i am in no hurry to try Vista. but, the installation was so easy that i decided to try Linux as well. i chose Ubuntu as the distribution to install on my Mac. i literally hadn’t played with a version of Linux in about 6 years. Ubuntu really seems ready for prime time. with Vista doing so poorly, i am now starting to wonder if open source solutions are going to start creeping into the forefront for many businesses and schools. many people use Firefox . . . runs great on Ubuntu. i have email, a photo editor and many other apps. and Ubuntu runs fast on my Mac. i find myself spending hours in Ubuntu. i think i’ll only keep XP on the off chance that i need the PowerPoint viewer to view a new PowerPoint 2007 file. nothing else. perhaps i’ll ditch PowerPoint full time and go with spresent instead from now on in my classes? it’s not open source, but it’s free and keeps me out of XP. heh. anyway, back to my point . . . i think open source is on the move especially if Vista doesn’t gain traction.
on a side note . . . this short 6 week semester online class is kicking my tail. everything is accelerated. on top of that, i start a 2 week compressed graduate course next week, so i have been reading like crazy to try and get up-to-date material injected into that curriculum. i have come across so much neat stuff that i can’t wait to get back to blogging more regularly in July. Stay tuned.
June 17th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I’m so glad this was your topic for our last blog response. The digital divide got me thinking about the PC vs. Mac divide. I’m not sure if your experiences have been the same. In mine PC users tend to be vehemently against Apple and their products. I’ve yet to run into a single Mac user who bashes PC with the conviction that PCers do Mac. Like I’ve said many times before I’ve always been a Mac girl. My family has had them since before I was born. I’m very familiar with Macs and the changes they’ve made. I’ve switched back and forth between them for school use before Macs were widespread. It was a pain. It didn’t make me hate PCs. Working at the MLRC I had to go back and forth every day. It gets rid of some of that hesitation that develops if you haven’t used one or the other after several operating system changes. I laugh to myself as I see a lot of these old diehard PC fans slowly going over to the Mac-side (as I like to call it.) They make claims that Macs were never that bad, they just liked the convenience of Pcs, which makes me laugh, because other than price, Macs seem to be the easiest to use. In my house we have the idiot box (tv) and the idiot-proof box (the mac.) I guess I have a few questions about what you’ve noticed over the years, you’ve been on the tech scene observing the changes. I may have been using Mac, but I didn’t care about converting others. When did Macs get popular? Was it the switch to OS X? Was it the iPod? Was it the color iMacs or clamshell iBooks? It occurred to me a few years ago that Mac has gotten into the mainstream. Apple seems to be everywhere; from iPod commercials to the Mac vs. pc commercials what do you think bridged the gap?
June 17th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
I forgot to add, don’t worry about responding right away. I know you’ve got a lot of stuff to do this week. Take your time. I’ll keep my blog open until the end of summer, or feel free to email me with your thoughts.