Running Windows 7 under OS X: Ars reviews VMware Fusion 3
VMware Fusion 3 was released last week into the anxiously trembling hands of desktop virtualization junkies, and we’ve run the release through a gamut of heavy tests to see if it’s able to meet the hype.
At first glance, 3.0 doesn’t look to be teeming with new features, but the changes that are there are significant:
Microsoft buys Teamprise, gets cross-platform support for VS
Microsoft has announced plans to purchase Teamprise-related assets from SourceGear but refused to reveal details of the acquisition. The Teamprise division of SourceGear, a Microsoft partner and leading provider of solutions for software developers using Microsoft tools and platforms, has been creating add-on products for Microsoft’s Visual Studio line since it was founded in 1997. Teamprise has applications that enable developers who are using the Eclipse integrated development environments (IDEs), or that are running multiple operating systems (including Unix, Linux, and Mac OS X), to build applications with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server.
The Teamprise Client Suite, which SourceGear will continue to sell and provide support for until the Microsoft solution becomes available, currently includes three main components:
Apple’s Boot Camp users must wait for Windows 7 support
If your copy of Windows 7 has arrived and you are champing at the bit to get it installed on your Mac via Boot Camp, you may want to slow down. According to an Apple Knowledge Base posting (via MacUser), Apple has plans to eventually support Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate, but… not right now. An update for Boot Camp that supports Windows 7 will be coming before the end of the year, but will still have several caveats.
For starters, the update will require Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard—those of you stuck on Leopard won’t be upgrading to Windows 7 either. Secondly, Apple has dropped support for many of the machines it manufactured in 2006. If you run a 17″ or 20″ iMac, 15″ or 17″ MacBook Pro, or a Mac Pro from that year, you may be out of luck.
October 2009 OS stats: Windows 7 passes Snow Leopard, Linux
Windows 7 arrived two weeks ago and so far it’s selling quite sell. With Mac OS X 10.6 becoming available less than three months ago, and Ubuntu 9.10 arriving last week, we feel it’s a good time to start watching the market share for operating systems, in addition to our monthly posts on browser market share. At this point in time, Windows continues to dominate with more than 90 percent of the market, Mac OS is above the five percent mark, and Linux is just under one percent. In October, Windows was the only operating system not to show positive growth.
Our November Thanksgiving giveaway
We are kicking off the first of many recurring monthly contests for you, our readers!
October 2009 browser stats: Firefox finally passes IE6
Web developers have waited for what seems like ages for this month to come along. Internet Explorer remains ahead of the rest of the competition, but since month after month it continues to lose ground to all other browsers, Firefox has now finally surpassed IE6, which is easily the most hated version of Microsoft’s browser. Firefox’s steady gain continues, Safari remains in a nonthreatening third place, Chrome is happily carving out a small niche for itself, and poor Opera can’t seem to budge from fifth place. In September, all browsers except for IE and Opera showed positive growth.
Windows Live Sync for Mac finally updated for Snow Leopard
Microsoft has finally released Windows Live Sync for Mac version 14.0.8096.0903, and just like the update to Live Mesh two weeks ago, this one is for all those new Snow Leopard users who were locked out after they upgraded from earlier versions of Mac OS X. With this new release, all is well again. To start using Windows Live Sync with Snow Leopard, you will need to grab the latest version from sync.live.com, sign in with your Windows Live ID, and download the Mac client software. If you’re using Sync on a Mac that is not running Snow Leopard, you don’t need to update. OSX 10.5 or later is required to use Sync.
Poll Technica: Lack of VBA in Mac Office holding you hostage?
Official support for Office 2004 for Mac is not going away this month as expected, Microsoft has announced. Instead, the company plans to extend support until 2012 in order to relieve those who are reliant on Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) until the next version of Office is released.
Microsoft says that “most customers” have already upgraded to Office 2008 for Mac, but that a number of Office 2004 users were stuck using the older version because of VBA scripting support—something that did not quite make its way into Office 2008 when it was released last year. Microsoft must not have anticipated the backlash against the disappearance of VBA, because the company announced in May of 2008 that it would be returning in the next major version of Office.
Apple’s Boot Camp users must wait for Windows 7 support
If your copy of Windows 7 has arrived and you are champing at the bit to get it installed on your Mac via Boot Camp, you may want to slow down. According to an Apple Knowledge Base posting (via MacUser), Apple has plans to eventually support Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate, but… not right now. An update for Boot Camp that supports Windows 7 will be coming before the end of the year, but will still have several caveats.
For starters, the update will require Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard—those of you stuck on Leopard won’t be upgrading to Windows 7 either. Secondly, Apple has dropped support for many of the machines it manufactured in 2006. If you run a 17″ or 20″ iMac, 15″ or 17″ MacBook Pro, or a Mac Pro from that year, you may be out of luck.
Live Mesh for Mac finally updated for Snow Leopard
Microsoft has released Live Mesh for Mac version 0.9.4501.0, and while we try to avoid covering every minor update to Live Mesh, this one is worth noting for all those new Snow Leopard users who were locked out after they upgraded from earlier versions of Mac OS X. With this new release, all is well again. To start using Live Mesh with Snow Leopard, you will need to reinstall Live Mesh for Mac by heading over to mesh.com, signing in with your Windows Live ID, and downloading the Mac client software from the “Devices” page.
When Apple announced the availability of Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6), the Live Mesh team quickly told its Mac userbase that the latest version was not compatible with the latest version of OS X, that they would continue to support 10.5 users, and that they apologized in advance for the inconvenience. That was in August 2009, but now, Microsoft has finally fixed the issue. The new version will obviously still work with Leopard; the only bullet point in the changelog is “Repairs client use for OS X Snow Leopard (10.6)” but Live Mesh Mac users should notice some performance, stability, and sync enhancements as well.
