Running other operating systems on a Mac is nothing new, and with the advent of Intel-based Macs we've seen a flood of virtual machine software: Parallels Desktop for Mac, VMWare Fusion, and Codeweavers CrossOver Mac. These products enable you to run Mac OS X and another operating system simultaneously.

For many of my consulting clients who are switching from PCs and who already have a licensed copy of Microsoft Windows, I've been using Sun's Open Source xVM VirtualBox product. Why? xVM VirtualBox works very well and it's free.

If you're new to virtual machines and want to know how to do this, follow along as I set up a Windows Vista virtual machine on an "old" 2GHz Intel Core Duo 20" iMac.

This post is continued after the break.

One of the most anticipated applications in recent memory, Delicious Library 2 is finally nearing release. Earlier this week, the guys over at AppleInsider showed off an in-depth sneak peek of the application and its new features and revamped interface.

I have had the opportunity to play with the beta as well, and I must say, I'm impressed. For the last six weeks or so, I have been working on a little something I like to call Project DVD -- wherein I try the various DVD cataloging programs (though most can catalog more than just DVDs) and find the best one to tackle my truly mammoth collection -- and it's great to have DL2 in the mix.

Just from my own experiences, what has impressed me most about the beta -- aside from the various UI changes/eye candy -- is just how much easier it is to add items.

Because I have so many DVDs, it's often faster for me to enter in titles by hand rather than relying on the iSight scanner. No matter how accurate the scanner may or may not be, holding a title up to my laptop is usually going to take longer than just typing in the name (granted, using a USB scanner like Motorola CS104 is a great solution, but at $100 OEM, you really have to weigh the expense to convenience). My biggest problem with Delicious Library (and in fact, almost all of the programs I have tested for Project DVD) has been that adding multiple titles at one time (say, multiple seasons of a TV show) has been either really difficult or impossible.

In my continuing quest to find, paraphrasing a bit from Lord of the Rings, "one device to rule them all," I've gone through so many different phones, "smart" phones and other devices like them that I've pretty much lost track of how many, which ones and when I used them all. They're all a bit of a blur from the Palm Treo 650 to the Sony Ericsson P910i to products from T-Mobile and Nokia. In short, name a device and I've probably tried it and, for one reason or another, found it wanting.

After trying so many different devices, I finally settled on the Blackberry 8700g as the one that most completely satisfied my needs for an all-in-one phone, contact, calendar and email tool I could take with me instead of having to lug a computer everywhere or a separate PDA and phone. The Blackberry had many things going for it: decent interface, speedy response, best-of-class email handling and it was even a pretty good phone too -- something that several of my other previous choices (which shall remain nameless) failed to be.

But as good as the Blackberry was, it was soon eclipsed by a shiny new device: the iPhone. From the moment the iPhone was announced, I felt certain it would finally be the one device that would be able to handle everything I wanted it to handle plus have the multi-media capabilities, ease of use and brilliant design Apple was famous for. Then, in June of last year, the iPhone was finally in my hands and I was off and running.

During the months that followed, I grew to love the iPhone and most of its features. It quickly became an indispensable tool capable of so much. However, I still felt like it was lacking a bit in some areas and I also started to miss some of the things about the Blackberry and they way it handled certain functions.