VMware and OS X
Why is this so important to me? As a developer (and specifically an indie developer) setting up and testing my applications on a clean install of Mac OS X can be a pain in the ass. I’m not the type to have multiple machines for this purpose since I can’t stand the clutter. Plus, once I’ve run my one of my apps on the clean system, it will leave little bits of debris around the file system in the form of preferences
I’ve been using multiple Macs and SuperDuper, but using virtual machines would be better in some ways. This would be best for testing with older versions of the OS, some of which require older hardware that I might not want to keep around. For how long after a version of Mac OS X Server is discontinued does ADC provide serial numbers?
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"For how long after a version of Mac OS X Server is discontinued does ADC provide serial numbers?"
Oh, that's a good question. The current one for 10.4 and 10.5 expires on February 27, 2009. The last 10.3 one expired on December 31, 2007. Looks like it might prudent to buy a copy ($499! No dev discount booo!)
Yet another good reason to have it run osx client.
Yeah, being able to run Mac OS X client would be so much better. It seems like a waste to buy a whole server license to just prevent it from expiring. If desk space weren’t a consideration, for $499 I could get a whole Mac.
The Apple EULA only allows Leopard Server to run in a VM so it wouldn't do you much good to use an older version unfortunately.
Ah. Got yah now. Yeah, that is a good question. It's always been slightly random but usually 2 and a half to 3 years after the GM release though Tiger has stayed around longer. I do love the new beta for Fusion as it brings most of the features that Parallels has that I've wanted Fusion to have like multiple snapshots, etc. I've had licenses for both since the launch of both products and maybe its a false perception but I've always looked at Parallels as the "consumer" choice and Fusion as the "IT" choice in the sense that Parallels comes up with features for integrating the OS X side of the experience faster than VMware does, but at the cost of stability. VMware seems to take a less features/better quality stance. But this new version has me excited. The only issue that is going to cause me not to get as much use as I'd like to out of running OS X Server as a VM is that the virtual video driver doesn't show up to the OS as a Quartz Extreme compatible video card so it won't allow me to install and run some of the apps that I write customization and scripts for that would benefit from those easy snapshot rollbacks. Anyways, always enjoy your blog.
