E-fficiency

I should apologize, I've let my blogging slide, and this after I promised I would write some posts on what issues and concerns are facing Mac users.  I haven't forgotten though - I've been asking around and getting as much feedback as possible, and what I'm hearing is pretty interesting.

One of the things people have always looked to technology for is greater efficiency.  I know, it's such a  horrendous buzzword now, particularly with financial and environmental pressures building, but hey much of the technological revolution and evolution I wrote about last time was driven by the desire to be more efficient.  At Parallels, we seem to talk about this topic a lot as virtualization offers far greater utilization from hardware, which is indeed much more efficient. 

Take me for example, I have two laptops: one is the snazzy little MacBook I am writing this on, and the other is the Windows-based laptop I used before I got the Mac.  Nothing wrong with it, in fact it has many a bell and whistle and has performed invaluable service during its time.  That said, since I got my MacBook and loaded it up with Parallels Desktop and Windows (XP of course), I haven't so much as started up my other laptop. 

The truth is that running two laptops is an unnecessary expense and hassle.  Charging both makes me feel like I can feel my carbon footprint swelling by the second and waiting for the PC to boot when I have everything I need already in front of me is a total waste of my time.  At the end of the day, efficiency for me is about convenience, and conveniently I am able to run Windows apps next to the Apple stuff I like with minimum fuss or cost.   

Well, I have got to thinking about this and looking at other ways people use software for efficiency.  I guess all software is designed to create some kind of convenience, but some more apparently so than others.  Some of my colleagues caught hold of this idea and we thought maybe people would be interested in a bundle of efficiency-oriented applications (try saying that 3 times very quickly.  Actually, don't, it isn't very efficient).

We're calling the package the Parallels Green Computing Bundle since greater efficiency in the way we use our electronic gadgetry can help us all save the planet.  Cue images of lone polar bears etc.  Oh OK, it's also cheaper.  Feel better?

The bundle offers 9 applications for just $50, a saving of about $250, which ain't bad.  As I say, the focus is really on convenience: time, cost and energy savings.  Here's what you get:

- Parallels Desktop for Mac

- MacScan

- Password Wallet

- MacExplorer

- Macaroni

- Drive-in

- PageSender

- Default Folder

- docXConverter

You can get all the details here.  The offer runs until September 30th, so you'd better act efficiently if you want in.