I've been a Mac user since 2002 and I just got a MacBook Pro 17 about two weeks ago. I teach astronomy and physics at a community college and my colleague and I have been asking for Macs for some time. Our head IT guy is adamantly anti-Mac and has openly said so. However, our request for MacBooks (not Pros) in our new labs and classrooms specifically for astronomy and physics were apparently approved. We placed great emphasis on the capability of Intel-based Macs to run both OS X and Windows. When I bought my iMac in 2002, I also bought Virtual PC/Win98 and used it all of about three times I think. It worked, but it was slow. Fast forward to this afternoon. I just sat here and instlaled Parallels Desktop and Windows XP Home. I think my jaw literally hit the table afterwards! PD is one of the most remarkable pieces of software I've ever experienced. Even if Apple includes some kind of virtualization in Leopard, PD would still be a VERY viable solution. I'm just amazed. I'm definitely going to pre-order, and I look forward to seeing the final product. Joe
Don't you just love these anti-Mac IT guys? So, I have a suggestion... Run up PW on your MacBook, switch it to full screen and then let him see it running WIndows before you tap a key and reveal that in fact its running OS X with Windows in a VM. hehe --Tim
Our IT guys aren't quite as opposed to Macs as those at your work. However, when I brought in my new MacBook complete with Parallels running Windows XP, they were eating it up. Then, when they found out they could install other OSs, such as Solaris and Linux (which they also support), they were thrilled. I wouldn't be surprised to see that whole team with MacBooks running Parallels in the near future!
