first off, this is an indirect follow-up of a previous post where i decided to flat out reject bootcamp.
since then i have had the joy of having my first real experience with semi-virtualization: running parallels at all times, in conjunction with you control desktops on my macbook pro.
semi-virtualization is only “semi” because i still have to run an app and switch to that app to use windows apps. full virtualization will hopefully be coming with OSX 10.5, where windows apps run in a seamless layer and all you have to do is switch to them like you’d switch to any osx app; like running classic apps on OSX but better 
so, i actually run the parallels winxp machine at a resolution of 1280×800 which on my laptop running at 1440×900 is just about perfect, almost fullscreen; i actually am not a fan of parallels’ built-in fullscreen mode as it messes with your resolution which results in the dreaded windows blast (i admit it, my term, but how else can one refer to the resizing of basically every app and finder window?).
I also have parallels on its own dedicated desktop in you control so by switching to that desktop, i am straight into XP and whatever i have runnning, which is a bit of firefox, and a lot of my new favorite application, ToDoList. no doubt more on that to come later, but two words for now fantastic and lifesaving…
