Web Design Forum: A TEST: VMware to test new applications and Keeping core system clean - Web Design Forum

I was recently thinking of buying a mac. I am a developer and I routinely use Visual Studio. So if I had purchased the mac,using one of the virtual programs to integrate some windows functionality would be a must.

I had not used a mac much so why was I considering the change? Well in a word "Windows". I was tired of re-installing the machine every 6-8 months due to system performance and continual system lagging. For me the complete re-install(operating system, programs and settings) process can take 2-3 days. Like me when you have done this a few to many times you start thinking "What the ***k".

"Which system of windows" is the number one Q I am sure most of the windows users are asking. Does it matter,all versions when put put under some strain over a short period of time will slow down. Experience has taught me that and nothing anyone will say will change that. You can manipulate certain settings to optimise performance and stability, but come on, should you have to.

So my plan was to move over to a mac, set up the virtual machine, back it up and use that.

I took a real think about this move, money at the ready for the mac book pro. To my surprise I decided against it for what ended up being a number of reasons.
I had an idea.

Part of the reason windows slows down is because all programs, installed and un-installed seem to leave some kind of foot print on the system. So if program "A" started affecting the performance of the system, you would think that un-installing that program would rectify the problem. This in the windows world is not the case.

One solution could be to install the minimal amount of programs, only those that you really need and you know to be relatively stable. If you are like me this is a hard/impossible thing to do. You start out with the best of intentions, but then you decide to check out that program called sketchup to see if you can do some basic 3d design. You decide to download that movie editing software to see what it is like. You do not like it so you download and install another. You download a new editor or image editor. Beta versions of your current programs come out, you just have to download them and try them. Before you know it your system is as clogged up with as much rubbish as your previous machine was and guess what, its beginning to slow down.

I though what if I re-install the system and I really do put the bare minimum software on it. So I installed Win7. Was actually impressed with the speed of win7 install(even faster when installed direct from pen drive I hear(not tried yet)).

What about the additional software that I would like to occasionally tinker with, trial, learn. Well install a Virtual Machine. I chose VMware, don't ask why, its the one I heard of first and sometimes its about what you get your hands on first. I have a quad core Phenom AMD system so I was thinking performance should not be an issue.

I installed VMware on the system, on there I installed Win7. I allocated 2 cores and 1.5 gig of RAM. I fired it up and it appeared to work well. Performance seemed a little dodge at times but once it gets running it seemed fine.

I installed php and mysql on the VM system. I then installed a php based e-commerce system aswell as a CMS system which run fine through it.

I have also installed the recent beta of microsoft Visual Studio 2010 on the VM, it runs perfectly and I am building a test app with it.

So far all is going to plan. Essential stuff on main machine. Experimental/Test stuff on VM.

Will the system still slow down as quickly. Well we will see, I will let you know...