mu mu

Some people have a way with words, blending daily occurence with the sweep of gods. Today's humble post is for one such sprite who can flitter between Eris the goddess of confusion and chaos, the last train to transcentral and weightier matters which sometimes require an axe.

broken glass

I'd been using Microsoft Vista Beta with Parallels on an intel Mac for several months. Now I see the new Vista Home Premium which I bought today actually forbids this.

Microsoft has reworded its End User License Agreement to say: “USE WITH VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES. You may not use the software installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system.”

So unless I want to turn my Mac over to Boot Camp dual boot, I can no longer use the product inside the terms of the agreement unless I dig deep for Vista Ultimate edition. The whole point of something like parallels is to be able to run Windows in a pane on the Mac. Microsoft say that "Home users have rarely requested virtualization and so it will not be supported in Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium.”

As a side note, one of the fun things about Vista under OS/X is the way it can be dynamically resized on the screen like a browser pane. Click my screen shot above to see a big picture of Windows in a small pane on OS/X. Or watch this three year old Apple trailer about iLife back in the olden days.

tags technorati : rashbre vista mac apple parallels virtualization boot camp microsoft intel EULA home premium

Microsoft Vista on Apple Mac OS/X

After my Vista post (above) I had several emails about the base install of a Vista upgrade on OS/X. I have several spare WIndows XP licenses from defunct systems and assumed the upgrade would work with either an original XP CD or XP serial number before the Vista one. But no.

Here is my Vista install to OS/X with Parallels.

1) Get a modern licenced version of Parallels and install it on OS/X
2) Create a Vista partition in OS/X with at least 512Mb memory and 20 GB disk space
3) Boot the legitimate Vista DVD from the Parallels partition (when the Parallels session boots, it trys to start the DVD in any case)
4) Click "Install Now"
5) Do not enter a Product key when prompted - if you try to you will get an ACPI, BSOD or can't upgrade error.
6) You will see a list of Vista editions. Select the one you have bought.
7) Install Vista normally - though it will be a trial copy with no serial number, only valid for 30 days.
8) Once the install is complete after circa 30 minutes, restart the DVD-based Setup from within Windows Vista.
9) Perform an in-place upgrade.
10) Enter your Product Key when prompted
11) Let Vista go through the upgrade a second time.

This procedure is much faster than installing a copy of XP and then upgrading to Vista. In fact, the upgrade after the original install completed in about half an hour on my iMac.

tags technorati : rashbre vista mac apple parallels virtualization boot camp microsoft intel

OTA Wordless Wednesday

red sky over a red part of Amsterdam
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Tag: Wordless Wednesday

Amsteldijk

There are two rivers running through Amsterdam; the Amstel and the Ij. The Amstel is famous for the Heineken Brewery and this evening a group of us found a rather pleasant restaurant on the bank of the Amstel, close to the brewery, where we enjoyed an evening of "boisterous debate".

Anne Frank

Related to my stay in Amsterdam, here's a direct link to Anne Frank's House. If you can't visit Amsterdam, visit the site. If you can visit Amsterdam, visit the house.

Rembrandtplein

Because I'm working during the day in Amsterdam, I only had part of the evening to visit the town. Early this evening, I met some colleagues, who were somewhat blitzed from their flights from Atlanta and San Francisco. I still had a further couple of meetings, whilst they took an incredibly early dinner in order to get some sleep before our early start on Tuesday.

I wandered from the hotel a little later, and here's a couple more snaps of Amsterdam at night, around the narrow streets and the cafes and bars, close to the hotel.

And, eventually, returning to the hotel, via tram, to escape the evening rain.

in the port of Amsterdam

I'm back in Amsterdam for a few days. I did spend a lot of time in Amsterdam a few years ago. Its a very compressed city, with the energy lines created by the concentric canals that force much of the life into a small area. I was previously based by the Damrak, which is a central and bustling pedestrian area that drives from the train station to the centre of the city. Every visitor to Amsterdam will walk some part of the Damrak.

The turnover of tourists on short breaks through Amsterdam is huge. With the pretty network of canals, the unique architecture, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank's house there is plenty for normal sightseeing.

Amsterdam also has de Wallen, a famous central red-light district. These "Hoerenbuurten" are common in Dutch sea ports and the one in Amsterdam is always busy with sightseers. De Wallen is also the centre for the Dutch Koffie shops, which, along with coffee, sell cannabis.

This time I'm staying in Heerengracht, right by one of the main canals. Here's Amanda singing a bawdy tune about this buzzing city.

Amsterdam

ps and in the post below, I've added an original version.

Jacques Brel

Naomi's comment prompted me to add this fantastic version of Amsterdam sung by its writer, Monsieur Jacques Brel.

java glitch

I notice the javascript formatting on rashbre central isn't working properly today. It looks as if leiderlich mein server in Germany ist kaput. I will merely drink coffee and ignore for the moment.

UPDATE: I sent a message to the helpful folk manning the engine room and they reset the misaligned sprockets. Should all be working again.

connections

I thought I'd try a post using words from today's most popular global technorati tags. Some of my blogroll celebrities have tried this in the past.

With George Bush in the USA speaking about iraq and iran there is much feedback from democrats on the continuation of the bloody war.

The environment is unseasonally warm and we can view flickr scenes of people shopping for fashion as well as upgraded versions of iPods and other gadgets.

Some are waiting for Apple iPhone to be released and even for Monday's Microsoft Vista with its heightened DRM although many expect an mp3 backlash like the way that rock and indie music with guitars have made a come-back.

Much of the new technology is made in China and this represents the emerging superpower. Of course, today's children take most of this for granted, with wii and playstation access to the internet, sometimes by firefox linking to a blog, youtube, yahoo, google or wikipedia.

I think thats enough links for one day.

happy clappy

Regular readers of rashbre central will know that this site normally spins positive and has 'there is fun going forward' as something of a catch phrase. So the recent posts about bad weather and broken down trains are something of an abberation. But of course, there is a reason for this, best expressed with the formula:

( [W + (D-d)] x TQ ) / (M x NA)

This equation is broken down into seven variables: (W) weather, (D) debt, (d) monthly salary, (T) time since Christmas, (Q) time since failed quit attempt, (M) low motivational levels and (NA) the need to take action.

I know you are all recognising this as the familiar depression formula, used to calculate the most depressing day of the year, which is somewhere between Monday 23 january and yesterday. Here in the Northern hemisphere, days are getting longer after 21st December, but the cyclonic weather systems have started to take their customary hold in January, bringing low, dark clouds and this year high winds and then snow to Britian.

Most people have broken their healthy resolutions six to seven days into the new year and many of us have eaten our way through the remaining Christmas chocolates and the content of the fridge.

Not to mention the suction sound from the emptying of the bank account, the prompt arrival of the credit card bill and the long delay since that early pay cheque in December. Why even the TV characters of East Enders are throwing themselves out of first floor windows.

But there's no place for Seasonal Affective Disorder around at rashbre central. We are all singing, dancing and prancing as we realise the rest of the year will be getting better and better.

Out with the bad and in with the good.