Parrallels 3.0 - The dissapointment that is virtual 3d support...
Parallels_icon3

I purchased Parallels 3.0 when I picked up my new 2.4 Ghz MacBook Pro. I have since been relegated to a large case of buyers remorse... Not that I don't appreciate Parallels, I use it on a daily basis for the work interface, and it is kinda neat having a vendor that has a tools package that works so well with Feisty Fawn also, but it is alas the touted 3D support that has been a complete waste of my time. The games that I have that I am interested in running:

- Halflife 2: "Half-Life 2 will run, but it crashes in a critical area. This rating may be upgraded if the problem can be worked around"
- Battlefield 2: Dead out of the gate - Direct X 9 - no support...
-
Battlefield 1942: "Game fails to start. Says "invalid videomode" even after applying the refreshRate-fix. "

For what it is worth, my opinion: buy it if you need something for running work apps under windows, ignore the games aspect - it really does not equate to much and your decision should not weigh anything against this feature feature that I feel is essentially a waste of time....
Checkpoint VPN - Creation made easy...
yast_firewall

For anyone looking to set up a Secure Client VPN for the first time, there is a good secure knowledge article (registration and maybe even a valid support contract required) available (SK#20876) that is not particularly easy to find.. I think one of the strangest things for me to get my head around was a area that is QUITE different to setting this sort of thing up on a Cisco ASA of VPN300: If you use X-Auth (Pre-shared group passwords) there IS not group password. I can only assume that Checkpoint is using the users password as its pre-shared key...

Anyway, I ran through this article step by step and had VPN up and running in 30 minutes.