If you use a mac or linux on a regular basis and find yourself wanting to use Windows applications this may be the fix for you. Go and download a copy of CrossOver for Mac from the CodeWeavers website. Their regular website is offline at the moment because the got hit so hard by Digg popularity.
Sourced from: FREE Software :: CrossOver Free Today Only!
If you’re a fan of being able to run Windows applications on your Mac, listen up! CodeWeavers Windows-to-Mac application CrossOver is being offered for FREE today only.
If you’re interested in the offer, visit the CodeWeavers website to sign up.
If you want to read more about the background of this story, check out Michael Rose’s post on TUAW.
The long and the short of it: You have George W. Bush to thank (sorta) for your opportunity to buy free software.
I’ve decided to go with Windows XP for my dual-boot environment on the MacBook. Partly due to familiarity, but mostly due to the lower resource requirement.
In setting up this new environment, I needed to decide how to cope with my Windows XP disc being an original, pre SP1 disc. The solution: Slipstream.
Slipstreaming allows you to create a Windows XP CD that has updates like the most current Service Packs. In this case, I’ll be adding Service Pack 3.
There are lots of guides on how to do the Slipstream process, including these two on HowToHeaven and Invisibill. These are great step-by-step tutorials that show you everything involved in the process. But they’re also very manual.
The tool I’ve chosen to go with is nLite. This slick little application provides the ability to not only Service Pack your XP installation, but apply lots of other custom features as well. Here are the steps I went through for my Slipstreaming adventure. (There is also a step-by-step guide on the nLite Website)
Step 1: When running nLite is to show it where the Windows installation is located. After that, you’ll need to specify a location for nLite to perform it’s magic. I chose C:slipstream.
Step 2: The next phase is to select the options for your installation. I’m a whole-hog kinda guy, so I elected to go with every option if for no other reason than to browse the options and screens.
Step 3: Pick your Service Pack. Once you’ve selected a service pack and applied it, nLite will perform the Slipstream operation and integrate the service pack.
Step 4: Updates & Hotfixes. The more that you can download and apply here, the fewer there will be to apply once the windows installation is completed.
Step 5: Select components to remove. nLite gives you the opportunity to eliminate components from the final installation. This can lighten not only the ISO, but also the final installation. Beware removing too many options. By eliminating support for hardware or drivers the usage of the installation will become more limited. However, if you have a specific application in mind it can help to streamline the process.
Step 6: Unattended Install. The next screen provides the ability to streamline the installation for a smooth unattended install. If you want to use this option, you’ll need your Windows XP CD key at this stage.
Step 7: Installer Options. This screen allows you to customize some of the behaviours of the installation process including boot-time messages and BIOS backup retention. If you don’t understand an option, take the default.
Step 8: Tweaks. Wow. This section has dozens upon dozens of options to tweak and adjust virtually every major setting in Windows. And a whole bunch that aren’t so major. Take your time with this and make sure to read the little captions for each option. There are so many possibilities.
Step 9: Integrate all the changes. nLite will begin to create the installation image, merging together all the changes you’ve selected. This process will take quite a while. On my machine it took about 10 minutes.
Step 10: Burn the ISO. Set any last settings you want for the ISO, and click the Create ISO button to start writing the image. Once the image is written, it can be installed to a VM (VMWare/VirtualServer) or burned to a disk for installation at a later time.
Over the past few months I’ve been hearing more and more about a new framework being developed by Microsoft and the ASP.NET community. It’s something that will bring a very common coding practice from the Java world and that’s the pattern of the model view controller (MVC) framework.
Due to the covoluted nature of my own school experience, I haven’t had much in the way of formal exposure to MVC concepts. In fact it wasn’t until about 18 months ago that I first heard the term when we were rolling out a new Java framework at work. This was a pretty major shift in direction for my team as we’d been using ASP.NET and webforms to do web application development for the past few years.
The transition hasn’t been an easy one. Most of the folks involved in the project are new to the company, new to the working world in general and the training on MVC was at a minimum. (I’m leading a team to replace that framework now, but I’ll talk more about this in some future posts.)
So over the past few months I’ve been reading posts by Scott Guthrie and listening to every episode of the Polymorphic Podcast that I can get my hands on. The PMP in particular has proven to be an excellent resource for information relating to the ASP.NET MVC framework. Craig Shoemaker regularly brings on guests who are experts in the field of .NET development and key players in development of the framework.
Over the next few months (in amongst my myriad other projects) I want to take a closer look at the MVC framework and see what all the hype is about. I need to figure out how to get a decent windows development environment up and running. For that I’m thinking about returning to a Boot Camp setup to give me a bigger boost when running my Windows environment locally on the Macbook.
Since my new role doesn’t involve a lot of development work, I’m really looking forward to getting my hands dirty again, and diving under the hood once again.
As some of you may already know, I run Windows Vista on my Macbook. Not full time, mind you, I’m a fan of virtualization. 
I’ve been trying to give my ol’ Vista install a bit more of a “wow” factor recently, and I’ve come across some great tips to help make your PC unique.
1. Lively Logon
This app’s not Vista specific, but Logon Studio will allow you to completely customize the way that your login screen looks. Make your Windows Vista look like Mac OS X or Fedora Core 6. The only downside to the Vista version is that it will only allow you to change the background, whereas previous versions provided a finer degree of cotrol.
Logon Studio is maintained by the Stardock folks. For a bit more detailed review, you can check out GGP #79.
2. Gadgets Galore
Much like some other operating systems that shall remain nameless, Windows Vista has a sidebar to help you pimp-out your desktop with all sorts of fun and useful gadgetry. Everything from traffic monitors, to CPU monitors, to gadgets that will do a slideshow of your favourite Facebook pics. You can pretty much do anything with a sidebar gadget because it’s written using HTML and CSS. Microsoft hosts a site called the Windows Live Gallery which will allow you to download dozens of these great free gadgets.
3. Wicked Wallpaper
Wallpaper is the quintessential customization that nearly everyone seems to know how to do. As soon as we get our new computers almost the first thing that most people do is change their wallpaper. Popular choices are the family pet, children, or “that beach” that you’ll get to… someday.
There are tons of sites out there that produce great wallpaper. But one that most people forget about is good old photo-sharing site Flickr. A simple query for “Vista Wallpaper” yields thousands of potential wallpaper candidates. Here are a few of my favourites:
Photo Credit: wvs on Flickr
Photo Credit: janusz on Flickr
Photo Credit: spitfirelas on Flickr
Photo Credit: creativesam on Flickr
4. Spectacular Screen Savers
After the wallpaper, the next most common customization is changing one’s screen saver. Sure, Windows has a dozen or so “interesting” screen savers, but really how many more times can we watch the starfield, or pour over those same photos again and again.
A great application called InstantStorm will allow you to turn any flash file (.swf) into its own screen saver. This tool will take the flash file, and compile it into a self-installing screen saver ready to deploy on your computer. This has the added bonus of being easily distributable and makes for a great screen saver to use at trade shows, or to distribute to clients on one of those funky business card CDs.
Instant storm was also reviewed on GGP #77.
side note: I borrowed the flash file of the pug licking a monitor to do my demo. Worked out pretty well!
5. Theme Theory
This is the half-tip… I really wanted to include some detailed theme information for Vista but I couldn’t. Here’s why:
Windows themes have been a topic that for many users lays shrouded in mystery. How come there are people with better looking versions of Windows than me? Where can I get that? Well, I have some answers for you here. A theme is a way of customizing everything in your Windows UI in one fell swoop. This includes colours and wallpaper for a start, but often will include new icons, application skins or screen savers as well.
In Windows Vista theming really has a long way to go. After seven years, there are tons of great theming devices for Windows XP, but for Vista many of the third-party theme options are limited and buggy.
Plug: If you’re still using XP and like high-tech looking themes… go get AlienGUIse.
This news is a couple of weeks old now, the latest version of it’s development software, Visual Studio 2008 (formerly codenamed “Orcas”) has gone RTM. The newest version of (imho) the best IDE on the market follows the “Whidbey” release and has also shipped in “Express” editions.
For those of you who haven’t read my previous posts on the subject, the Express editions are standalone IDE’s for VB, C# and Web Development, as well as an express edition of SQL server which can all be used and distributed royalty-free.
I’m looking forward to poking around in VS 2008 a bit more in the coming months. So expect to see some more of this, and a bit less focus on the Mac platform for the next little while.
I realize that many of you reading this are well aware of the tediousness of regularly performing your windows updates. Hopefully it’s not as bad as this guy… I mean hell we’ve all done it. Reload your Windows PC and spend 30-60 minutes running Windows Update multiple times to make sure you’ve covered everything.
So why, prey tell, would it be any different on the Mac?
Well, it isn’t. At least not entirely. When I bought Leopard last week, there were two software updates for me to do when I installed it… a mere 4 hours after its release! 2 updates in four hours? That has to be some kind of record.
Since 1998, Microsoft has been in a battle with EU regulators over allegations that they have engaged in monopolistic business practices. These allegations are similar to the anti-trust suit brought against the Redmond giant in the US Microsoft has now agreed to give up its battle against the antitrust legislation in an effort to stop the fines accruing against them at €3 million per day.
At the heart of the 1998 complaint: the bundling of Media Player with Windows, and the high licensing cost of information required for applications to work more efficiently with the Windows Operating System.
Under the deal brokered with the EU, Microsoft has agreed to license it’s intellectual property, with the exception of patents, for a one-time €10,000 fee. This is in place of the nearly 3% in royalty payments Microsoft had previously demanded. Patented material will be licensed for just under half a percent of the royalties. This fee was previously priced at 5.95%.
As much as I want to applaud an action like this, the sentiments at the core of the action taken by the EU smack of government interference. From what I can tell, aside from a very pricey operating system, Microsoft has done nothing to harm the consumer. They have a company that has invested money to either buy or develop software technologies, and are now being forced to license that technology to competitors for a specific price.
In some ways, this is similar to regulations put in place by the CRTC in Canada which have fixed the price of telephone service that can be offered to customers by the large carriers. The prices have been fixed in such a way that the carriers are not permitted to lower the price for fears that they will resort to pricing tactics that will eliminate any competitors. This was done without any evidence that any of the major carriers like Bell or Telus were resorting to such tactics.
Will this type of legislation help software developers create new and improved technologies and programs? Yes. For Windows. Will it help them to develop programs for other systems? Not likely. Will it help Microsoft sell more copies of Windows to people who want to use the new software? Probably. So tell me, EU: How does selling more copies of the most expensive server operating system in the world help consumers?
Next month, the review of the Google acquisition of DoubleClick is slated to complete. We’ll see what they have in store for another technology giant.
Sources
I’ve covered a few stories on this blog [1], [2], [3] where Microsoft is making some positive strides toward opening up to the concept of open source, particularly in relation to it’s software development arm.
On October 3rd Scott Guthrie, manager of the teams who build the development and platform tools at Microsoft, announced that the source code for the .NET Framework would be released with the next release of Visual Studio (VS 2008). This announcement is the latest in a series of moves by Microsoft over the past couple of years.
Though the source code will be available for download and reference by software developers, it will be licensed under the Microsoft Reference License, meaning that the source will not be freely distributable.
Still, this is a major step forward for the software giant, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the next step will be on the journey toward peaceful coexistence with the open source community.
