Why I Ended Up with Parallels

When I switched from my Dell to a MacBook Pro, I knew that I still have to retain some type of Windows capability, especially the product that I develop predominately runs on Windows due to its connectivity with a Windows database, Microsoft SQL Server. There were three options at the time: VMWare Fusion, Parallels, and dual booting with Bootcamp. The last option is really a non-starter, since it is way too cumbersome to reboot when I have to switch OS.

So it boiled down to a choice between the two solutions involving virtual machines. I started out with VMWare Fusion, because our company had experience with VMWare on Windows and we had a few VMWare virtual machines already built. I went ahead and bought version 2.

The best way to sum up my experience with version 2 is that running it made my MacBook feel sluggish. The disk I/O read and write speeds were very slow. I ran some non-scientific benchmarks and they were sometimes five times as slow as native reads and writes from Mac OS X. Since I use the VM for the specific purpose of running a database, this is somewhat problematic. To compound the disk I/O issue, it gets worst after the VM is suspended. It almost seems like the VM never fully wakes up. Restarting the VM from suspension also took a very long time. Due to these irritating characteristics, I ended up shutting down the VM completely, and restarting the VM frequently, countering the convenience that I would have enjoyed with the Mac’s very nicely implemented lid-closing suspend feature. I also do a lot of presentations and demonstrations. Of course during the demonstration, I would plug my MacBook into a projector. All this worked fine, until I unplug the projector. Going from mirrored displays and back to a single display caused VMWare to misbehave. I sometimes get a black LCD screen, or my computer just freezes. Either of these two situation forces me to bounce the power button.

Shared folders in VMWare also caused me endless headaches. Finally, I thought my prayers were answered when VMWare version 3 came out. It got a little better. I/O speeds improved somewhat, but the basic instabilities still existed. I then came across this article and found that Parallels’ I/O performance is significantly better. After downloading a trial version of Parallels Desktop 5, I started by converting my VM. This procedure was effortless and pain free. Sensing good karma already.

When I started the VM with Parallels, I was pleasantly surprised how fast it started up. Disk I/O was fabulous, very close to native speeds. The most enjoyable experience is that I can now close the lid of my MacBook and open it up again without having my computer feel sluggish. Parallels simply does a phenomenal job when it comes to start, suspend, and restarting the VM. It is just a pleasure to work with! No more issues when displays are mirrored with a projector, or viewing the VM in full screen mode, and the other working mode does not bog down my OS X experience. Everything is not rosy though. I did find an issue with copy and paste, but can be quickly remedied by simply quitting Parallels and re-launching again. Given Parallels’ fast performance in stopping and starting VM’s, I rather deal with this one issue discovered in more than 10 days of putting Parallels through its paces, than the litany of issues previously described with VMWare Fusion. In summary, my trial ended yesterday and I bought my Parallels license. Goodbye VMWare Fusion (off of my hard drive for good).

TEDTalks (video) – George Whitesides: A lab the size of a postage stamp – George Whitesides (2009)

Amazing. Diagnostic medicine with paper! Check out this episode of TEDTalks (video) at George Whitesides: A lab the size of a postage stamp – George Whitesides (2009) – http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TEDTalks_video/~3/sOSnF8DDgrE/760

How I would use the iPad

Let’s say that I own Apple products from all three categories.  An iPhone for true mobility applications when I don’t want to carry anything like a bag.  The iPhone fits nicely in my pocket, and gives me enough online experience when I’m about.  A MacBook Pro for real productivity work like coding, video editing, anything else requiring heavy duty CPU power.  And finally assuming I get this new iPad, a device that has a form factor that is easy to hold while lying in bed, on the couch, or sitting at the dining room table.
Given the above situation, I think I can imagine the following scenario:
  1. Come home from work
  2. Put my iPhone in the dock (its use is completed while I’m at home)
  3. Plug in my MacBook Pro so it is charging, and its contents are shareable on my home network
  4. Pick up my iPad in the living room and start any of the following activities (in order of most likelihood):
  • Surf the Internet
  • Check Email / Calendar (mostly reactive)
  • Listen to my usual podcast
  • Read a book
  • Watch a movie
  • Browse some pictures
  • Play games

Of course I can do all of the above with my MacBook or my iPhone but I think the experience of the iPad could be better.

This is of course all speculative since I have not held an iPad in my hands yet, and therefore have no idea what the actual experience is like.  So the above only holds water if the experience is indeed superior to what the iPhone or the MacBook (or for that matter any other device) can give me, and is good enough to drop down the $500 USD.
I guess that is all there is to say, without getting into, the iPad SHOULD BE this, or the iPad DOESN’T HAVE this.  Just value it for what it is right now and see if it is worth it to you or not.

TEDTalks (video) – Shashi Tharoor: Why nations should pursue “soft” power – Shashi Tharoor (2009)

Check out this episode of TEDTalks (video) at Shashi Tharoor: Why nations should pursue “soft” power – Shashi Tharoor (2009) – http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TEDTalks_video/~3/PWVyj99AcMs/689

H1N1 Vaccination Experience

Today our entire family got vaccinated at Richmond Hill, Ontario.  We went to the Rouge Woods Community Centre.

Their clinic hours were from 12pm to 8pm.  My wife, Carol, started to wait in line from 10am and I relieved her at around 11:30pm.  Suffice it to say that the line wasn’t moving and waiting outside wasn’t too bad.  Luckily we had a sunny autumn day to accompany us.  Carol brought a couple of chairs so we didn’t have to stand all the time.  She and my youngest boy, Kalen, went back home for lunch while I continue to wait.
They assessed the people in line and handed numbers as we approach 12pm.  People who were honest and did not meet the “high” risk criteria were asked to come back another day.  I have to thank those people for their honesty.  I’m not sure if I would be that honest given the circumstances.  By the way, the high risk group is defined as:


  • People under age 65 with chronic health conditions
    (such as diabetes, asthma, cancer or a condition that

    affects the heart, liver, lung, or immune system)

  • Pregnant women
  • Healthy children aged six months to less than five years
  • People living in remote and isolated settings or communities
  • Health care workers
  • Household contacts and care providers of infants under six months or persons who may not respond to vaccines
    Note: Children from six months to nine years of age should receive the vaccine in two half-doses, given at least 21 days apart. Individuals 10 years of age and older should receive one dose of the vaccine.
    H1N1 flu vaccine can be given at the same time as seasonal flu shot and other vaccines.
Things were pretty organized considering.  There were ample security staff supplemented by police officers to manage the crowd.  At around 12:30pm, we got inside.  Once inside, the community centre opened up a gym filled with chairs so we can wait for our numbers to be called.  I called Carol to come back in case our numbers are called.  She pulled Jason, our eldest son, out of school and along with Kalen return to the community centre at around 2pm.  I had to talk to the security guards so that they can be allowed into the community centre.

Our family waited at the gymnasium for about 20 minutes or so, and we were called at around 2:20pm.  We were then briefed by a health worker on the nature of the vaccine, followed by a very short queue and in front of the EMS personnel we went.  The children were vaccinated first with a little fuss from Kalen, but both boys braved the episode pretty well.  The room were packed with kids some were crying, shouting, and forcibly resisting from the episode.  I feel sorry for those parents.
We were supposed to wait in the room for 15 minutes, but given the crowded nature of the room, we decided to leave and call it a day.  All in all from line up to finish, we spent 5 hours to get our entire family vaccinated in the Richmond Hill area.  Good luck to you should you choose to get it as well.

The other clinic locations are:

Clinic dates and locations:
Vellore Village Community Centre
1 Villa Royale Avenue, Vaughan – Map
*Monday to Friday, 12 p.m to 8p.m *Saturday and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Ray Twinney Complex 
100 Eagle Street West, Newmarket – Map
*Monday to Friday, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. *Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m to 5p.m
Sutton Kin Community Hall 
3 Fairpark Lane, Sutton – Map
*Mondays and Wednesdays only, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Clinic open Monday, November 2

Rouge Woods Community Centre 
110 Shirley Drive, Richmond Hill – Map
*Monday to Friday, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. *Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m to 5 p.m 
Clinic open Monday, November 2

8100 Warden Avenue 
Former Markham Hydro building, Markham – Map
Seven days a week
*Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. *Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m to 5 p.m 
Clinic open Monday, November 2
The H1N1 vaccine will be available to everyone else as more vaccine becomes available. For electronic tracking purposes only, we encourage you to bring your Health Card and/or Driver’s Licence to the clinic. Vaccine will be offered to residents who attend the clinic without their health card.Some family physicians may also provide the H1N1 vaccine.
PLEASE BE PREPARED FOR A LONG WAIT.  YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.
Clinic dates and times may be subject to change.  Before going to a location check clinic information at www.york.ca/h1n1 or call York Region Health Connection at 1-800-361-5653.

Pondering an ISP Bandwidth Audit

The topic of net neutrality is a hot topic today. With all this talk about traffic shaping and bandwidth caps, I suddenly had a thought about a potential audit that can be applied to ISP’s. Here is my line of thinking:

Every ISP show how connects to the Internet backbone either directly or indirectly. They all have a bottleneck throughput data rate as a result of this connection. If we use that throughput, then the maximum, total number of bytes that can be transferred in a day or in a month by the ISP can be calculated. This value can represent the capacity in GB that an ISP can sustain within a given month.

The question that I have is will this monthly capacity be more or less than the total number of GB cap that ISP such as Rogers is charging on their collective customers? I don’t know the answer to this question, but it is fun to ponder what happens if it is more than the theoretical maximum monthly capacity. If so, are they not over promising? What if they are? One can argue that it is unrealistic to expect that everyone will max out their Internet usage at the same time. A reasonable argument. So what is an allowable or expected percentage of usage that is reasonable? 5%? 10%?

I don’t know the answer unfortunately. The more I think about this, the more I think that ISP has the potential of being banks. Instead of cash, they deal with bytes. Canadian Chartered Banks are mandated to keep a certain cash reserve that is equal to 7% of their loans. Should ISP’s be held accountable to a certain usage% as well? I really am not sure where I am heading here, but just providing food for thought I guess.