OS X vs. desktop Linux

[Feanil Patel]

If you don't want to pay for VMWare Fusion on the Macs.  Virtual Box is a
great alternative.  I use it at work when IEs for linux won't do what I
want.  It's available for Mac, Linux and Windows so it's a pretty good
versatile solution.

-- 
Feanil

On Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 11:41 PM, Richard Pieri <richard.pieri-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>wrote:

> On Jun 21, 2009, at 10:34 PM, Rich Braun wrote:
> > Over half the time, I'm finding that these folks are choosing a Mac,
> > despite
> > the fact that each person's job title starts with the word "Linux".
>
> That doesn't surprise me.
>
> > That said--we do have a lot of challenges dealing with Macs because
> > of the
> > infernal dependency on Internet Explorer that so many apps have.
> > (Including
>
> I have a few solutions for this -- and in fact they're the same
> solutions that I'd use with a Linux desktop or notebook as I would
> with Macintosh.
>
> The cheap, quick & dirty solution: run IE with WINE using IEs 4 Linux
> or IEs 4 Mac: http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/page/Main_Page
> Pros: cheap.  Cons: some ActiveX controls don't work.
>
> The brute force solution: dual-boot with Windows as a secondary OS.
> Pros: reliable.  Cons: painful, potentially costly depending on
> Windows site licensing, users can mess up configurations and render
> the computers unbootable without sysmonsterly assistance.
>
> The elegant solution: build a Windows appliance in VMware and run it
> with VMware Player (Linux) or Fusion (Mac).
> Pros: reliable, not painful like dual-booting, easy to deploy and
> maintain.  Cons: potentially costly depending on Windows site
> licensing, there is no Player for Mac and Fusion is not free.
>
> The clever solution: assuming a sane VPN that Macintosh can use, set
> up a Windows machine inside the network for remote users and use VNC
> or Remote Desktop or whatever you like to drive it.
> Pros: inexpensive, reliable.  Cons: dependent on users not screwing up
> their own computers, nearly useless with slow network links.
>
> I'm partial to the VMware solution.  While it can have the highest up
> front monetary cost it is also the easiest to manage.  Appliances are
> easy to deploy as ZIP files and they are their own backups.  If an
> appliance is corrupted or destroyed you can delete the damaged
> appliance, unpack the ZIP file, and run with the clean copy.
>
> --Rich P.
>
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