A sign of things to come. From the VS Express install notes:
Windows XP SP2
Issue: On a computer running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), the Web download will fail, as the firewall is enabled by default.
Workaround: Disable the firewall and check to make sure the Proxy settings are enabled. This can be checked by opening Internet Explorer. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Connections tab. Click LAN Settings. The Automatically Detect Settings check box should be checked. If it is not, check it and click OK. Then run Setup again.
Why do I get the feeling that this will be the proposed solution to so many problems in the coming year?
It must be salary survey time -- I've seen a bunch roll through my inbox lately. Enterprise Systems Magazine has a section for “Programmer/Analysts” in theirs and lists the following “programming environments“, with salaries from highest to lowest:
- Mainframe
- XML
- C/C++
- COBOL
- Java
- VB
XML? People are still listing this? Where are the “comma-delimited” or “binary” environments?
I'd like to fault the people writing the survey for not knowing what they're talking about, but seeing stuff like this get through the editors makes me realize the whole outfit is lacking. There is an upside: Items like these help me determine which newsletters I should unsubscribe from. Thank you for reducing the clutter in my inbox, Enterprise Systems Magazine!
Bad-Ass MC Jon Galloway commented that he has a "friend" that isn't familiar with the differences between Virtual PC and Virtual Server. I've only used Virtual Server for a few hours, but rather than do some research for the facts, I'll tell you what I think I know.
Random points of interest:
- They use the same file format, so you can create a virtual machine with one product and use it with another.
- VPC supports sound cards, VServer doesn't.
- VServer supports SCSI disks, VPC doesn't.
- VServer supports multiple CD-ROM drives. VPC doesn't.
- VServer supports a few other server-like features, mostly relatively minor.
The big difference, though, is how they run: VPC runs as an interactive desktop process, whereas VServer runs as a service. VServer is designed to transparently function as a real machine on the network. Multiple virtual machines can be hosted by VServer in a single box.
Some of VServer's coolest features are at the service level. You can set constraints per virtual machine for things like relative processor utilization, absolute proc utilization, scripts that run based on a number of events, and so on. Administration is done via web pages, which I'm usually not very fond of, but they pull it off quite well. The admin pages display some stats for CPU utilization, disk & network I/O, etc. Like VPC, the admin site shows a thumbnail of the console screen, but adds a CPU graph that can be useful to see what's taxing your machine if you have more than one VServer running.
As I understand it, Microsoft bought the technology from Connectix for the server functionality. There are still many, many companies running their LOB apps on NT 4 and it's working just fine for them, thankyouverymuch. While software may continue to work well in an isolated environment, hardware doesn't fare so well. Things break, get more expensive to replace, cost more to manage, etc. The idea is that you can buy a new server box, a single Windows Server 2003™ license and throw all of your old NT 4 servers onto a single physical machine, completely isolated from each other in their own little 1996 worlds.
You don't need NT 4 to require application isolation. We've had bad experiences getting SharePoint to work on our current multi-use machines -- install fails, uninstall fails, then install fails to run again, leaving bits we don't want or need on (internal) production boxes. Creating a dedicated virtual machine is a no-brainer and has served us well. It, too, was trashed.
I've used VirtualPC and VMWare for quite a while now, but just today got an OS running on Virtual Server. There's nothing like a disposable box, and we needed it: SharePoint “trashed” a multi-use server and today trashed the Virtual Server[1]. No worries, though, just make another! (Or, as will be the practice moving forward, use the copy that you made of the clean install.)
There was just something special about Remote Desktopping into a machine that doesn't exist. I've long gotten over running a virtual machine in my own box, and this was something different and beautiful. I'm thinking about installing Virtual Server into a guest VServer OS, then loading that image into the guest, and so on. Just keep going and see where it takes me.
Anyway, the whole point of writing this was to point out a great Virtual [Server|PC] resource: What Works and What Doesn't in Microsoft Virtual CP 2004. Believe it or not, the list of OSes is even longer than the website name. I had no idea this many OSes existed. Bravo! (Unfortunately, Womp! 0.6 doesn't recognize audio CD and Yoper 1.0 blue screens on install -- but 2.0 does indeed work.)
[1] Not trashed like killed it, but trashed like it wouldn't install, then wouldn't uninstall, and now refuses to even try to install. (Or at least that's what I hear on the grapevine.)