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Web Site Testing : The Little Mac Mini That Could...
In our constant efforts to improve LocalBizBlogs, a major obstacle we've encountered is testing the bugs and problems which you've been submitting. We're not alone here, this is a constant problem for web developers around the world.
The basic rundown of the problem, and I'll try not to bore you to death here, is that we want to support as many types of computers (operating systems) and browsers as we can. However - there are several platforms, several types of browsers, and all the platforms can run a bunch of browsers! Needless to say, testing the site thoroughly gets sticky quickly.
Enter the Mac Mini. With software like Boot Camp or VMWare Fusion, the Mini can simultaneously run Mac, Windows and Linux programs - seamlessly. We can install Safari 3.0 beta on Windows XP, FireFox 2.0 on a Windows Vista computer and Opera in Ubuntu Linux - all on the same computer. Even better, we can run them all at the same time. Not bad for a computer about the size of a small stack of CDs.
At first, we attempted to use Boot Camp to install Windows XP and Windows Vista. Unfortunately, Boot Camp currently only supports 1 other operating system, and despite our best efforts, we were unable to circumvent this limitation. However, for a program available for free, it did a great job getting us set up running Windows XP and Mac OS X. It's major downfall, besides limiting you to only 1 additional operating system, is that you have to restart your computer every time you want to switch operating systems. While this is good for allowing your programs to run faster, it makes our job as testers significantly more time consuming.

After several hours of tinkering and playing with Boot Camp, we decided to give VMWare Fusion a try. VMWare Fusion is a commercial program that allows you to run many virtual computers on your Mac, all at the same time. Fusion isn't free, but it's flexibility and ease of use makes it easily worth it's $79.99 price tag. When we discovered the program, we were thrilled, to say the least.
A few hours later, our valiant Mac Mini was up and running with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X, all with their own copies of FireFox, Internet Explorer and Safari. In the future, we'll try to complete the testing system with a Linux installation (I'm voting for Ubuntu), as well as a few more browsers ( We hear you, Opera! ).

So far, the Mini has been performing wonderfully. The convenience of having all of our testing environments available to us in such a tiny package has been worth more than the Mini's weight in gold. Even better, the system cost us less than $1,500 to get off the ground. Now, it's just a matter of putting it to good use!
Have you experienced any bugs or problems while working on LBB? Please let us know at our contact form. We'll do our best to correct the issue, or at least help you find a work around.
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