Re: AW: Xy on Mac revisited

[Russ Urquhart russurquhart1@xxxxxxxx]

As virtual machines go, this is pretty much true. Realize this,
though, that with the use of Intel processors in the current Apple
machines, especially Intel processors with dual and quad core
processors, WITH support for virtual machines/environments built into
the hardware of that processor, virtual machine support is probably
only getting better and better. (Also this is virtual machine rather
than emulation like on the old Virtual PC on the Powerpc Macs. This
was always slower as the VPC app had to convert Intel operation codes
to relevant Powerpc operation codes and THEN perform them! With the
same processor at the core, you don't have this op code emulation
occurring, so it is faster.)
Also, if you are running DOS under Parallels or VMware, or whatever,
with the speed and the number of processors available, i can't help
but think that ANY DOS application is going to scream on that
processor. I mean, what was the top processor speed at the time the
last version of Xywrite came out? I can't help but think that, even
under a virtual machine, the performance of XY would be more than
acceptable. (I'm using Xy, under VPC, on my seven year old Powerbook
Pismo running at 550 Mhz and I'm happy.)
Everyone needs to weigh their wants and desires when purchasing new
computer hardware. I like what Apple has done with their OS as well
as their innovative hardware and their attention to detail that you
see in that hardware, even in the packaging of that hardware. I have
been a Mac user long enough to see nit-picky complaints, voiced, by
what i thought were then fanatical, mac users, get addressed by the
company by the next dot release. I like that. I am also very happy
that I have been able to continue to run XY on even a seven year old
machine and feel confident that i will continue to be able to do so
on their hardware in the future.

Good luck!

Russ
On Jan 8, 2007, at 12:07 PM, Michael Norman wrote:
> At 09:11 AM 1/8/2007, Russ Urquhart wrote:
> > I am chomping at the bit to get an intel based mac in order to try
> > Parallels, Vmware, or any of the other tools to let me run Xywrite
> > more natively. (I heard a rumor that for those mac users currently
> > using Virtual PC would be able to their Virtual PC disk images be
> > accessible from Parallels. This is just what i have heard, no
> > confirmation.)
> In the computer trade and consumer press, as well as on most of the
> main-stream websites that write about Mac development, the virtual
> machines don't get good reviews. They're slow, for the most part,
> clunky. Boot Camp, however, which will be part of the new Mac OS,
> Leopard, allows the WIN OS and apps to zip along. Since XP/TAME
> handles XY-DOS well, shouldn't be a problem, if XP is one of the
> other OS's. I realize there are other iterations to consider -- DOS
> and so forth -- and other factors too, like: Apple hardware and its
> durability, screen resolution on the Apple laptops, and on and on.
> I'm on the cusp of making a decision about new hardware. I'm still
> leaning to Lenovo and a desktop PC, maybe an HP, but I too am
> looking hard at Apple/Leopard.
>
> Michael Norman