Don’t use it!! My Macbook Pro went to shit when I installed it. MSN Messenger.Mac crashed repeatedly, every time I closed a conversation window. Adium’s Growls showed up empty. Parallels kept crashing. I uninstalled it and everything was perfect.

Update: It works fine now that I updated to the latest Parallels, MSN Messenger.Mac, and Growl.

I don’t know how, but somehow this weekend I got some horrible adware/spyware/virus on my Windows XP running in Parallels on my Macbook Pro. It removed my company issued and maintained Trend Micro virus client. It would not allow me to install my Norton AntiVirus client. And it wouldn’t let me install/run SpyBot Search & Destroy.

After trying everything I could think of, I remembered that I had made a snapshot not too long ago. And since all my data was in the shared profile (i.e. in the Mac file system), I wouldn’t lose anything important. So I simply restored to the last snapshot, and Voila!, everything worked perfectly. My biggest pain after that? Re-syncing MS Outlook’s ost file. And I could live with that.

Somehow, after all my rhetoric about Apple, I ended up being a Mac user. How?

Well, I went to pick up my Lenovo T60p from our help desk. It took almost a month to arrive, and I was excited to get it. When I get there I noticed a whole row of Macbooks getting configured. I was surprised to see so many Macs, because as far as I knew our company didn’t support Macs as corporate computers. So I asked if we were now supporting Macs. The help desk guy actually went on and on telling me how much better they are, easier to maintain, more reliable, faster, etc. He showed me Parallels in Coherence mode (which rocks) and we talked about Boot Camp. By the end of our conversation, I wanted a Macbook Pro. He mentions that they’re the same price, and he has a 15″ MBP not allocated to anyone else. So I traded him. He gave my T60p to someone else and configured the MBP for me.

And I like it. I really, really like my Macbook Pro. So much so that I bought one for Neela. We were able to consolidate her iBook and her IBM R52 pieces of crap into one Macbook Pro running Parallels, too.

The only reason the Mac works for me is Parallels. Though, now, after using my MBP for about a month I only use Windows on my MBP for MS Office (primarily Outlook). Everything else works just fine in Mac OS X.

So yes I’m a convert. And it’s all easily explained by my earlier post about simplifying. Anything that makes my life easier is more than welcome. iLife and iWork simplify so many things, as does Automator.

I got two iPods actually.  A 160GB Classic and an 8GB Nano.

Whoa, let’s back up first.  Why is this such a big deal to me?  How is this me “breaking down”?

Well, for many years (as far back as I can remember), I’ve pretty much hated Apple.  Why?  I don’t like their business practices.  People complain about Micro$oft’s proprietary and evil business practices.  They get mad when MS embeds their browser in their OS.  Hmmm.  But… when Apple does it… “It’s the best thing ever” and “It just works”.

So, here’s the thing.  I’ve tried Creative, SanDisk, iRiver, and Archos.  No one has anything even close to an iPod, in terms of form factor and usability.  Even the “competition” (the Zune) isn’t even close.

Unfortunately, the iPods are very compatible with Ubuntu.  Too bad Apple doesn’t really support Linux, even though it’s built on BSD Linux.  I guess older iPods worked with YamiPod, gtkPod, and other OSS Linux software.  But the newest iPods don’t work (yet?).

So.  To all my friends who have been listening to my rants and raves against Apple for so many years: Go ahead.  Leave your comments.  Get it out of your system.

Don’t want to listen to me?  Read this.

I don’t think any of my two readers (who are Apple believers) will be able to refute that the iPhone is defective by design.  The battery only lasts 300-400 charging cycles, then you pay $85.95 to send it in and get a new battery installed.  During that time, you do not have a mobile phone AND (as a BONUS!) they lose all your data.

Good thing Apple stuff “just works”, huh?

Oh, all the poor Apple fanboys and fangirls. What’s the matter? Can’t activate your iPhone? What happened to “It just works”? Ohhhhhh it just works sometimes?

Let me just say that I’ve been anti-Apple since I was a kid. I doubt that’ll change - but I won’t throw it away as a possibility.

But, really. Who the frack gives a flying frack about the stupid fracking iPhone? I mean, really.

I know who. The sheep who have been brainwashed into thinking that whatever Apple produces is the next thing they must buy. It’s the mentality that all of Apple’s stuff “just works” and it’s the best thing out there. Which isn’t true, but don’t try telling them that.

iPoop. Same poop as everyone else’s poop, but branded white and it came out of Steve Jobs’ ass.  Gotta have it.

iCondom.  Same as a Trojan, but used by Steve Jobs.  Gotta have it.

iCar.  Slower, less gas efficient, and smaller than equivalent cars.  Only comes in white.  Steve Jobs just revealed it.  Gotta have it.

What is it with Apple fanboys?