The fine community at Macintouch points to the Mac-specific area on Old Version Downloads – OldApps.com. Find old versions of lots of software, for Mac and PC: older email programs, audio editors, picture editors, FTP programs, and more. They even have older versions of Apple’s QuickTime. Looks like a great resource, especially if you’re spiffing up an older machine to save money.
And teachers always want to save money.
I didn’t even know Movie Maker was missing features. We still have XP on our lab PCs, so we don’t have the latest Movie Maker. I don’t configure the PCs in our labs—so glad someone else has that enviable job—but I teach workshops on Windows Movie Maker. 
The newer versions have lost functions I take for granted, most importantly capture from DV via Firewire. We’ve just gotten some Flip cameras for student use, but most of our cameras are still DV-tape-based, and we have DV decks on 11 workstations. My usual browse of Lifehacker brought this portable version of Windows Movie Maker to my attention yesterday:
Based on version 2.1 of Windows Movie Maker, Portable Windows Movie Maker not only lets you use the missing features on Vista and Windows 7 systems, but it includes the missing transitions and effects from Windows XP, as well as several additional features to boot. Portable and stand-alone, you can use it when you need removed features, like analog capture, without messing with your current version of Windows Movie Maker.
Via Lifehacker which was via Download Squad which was via instant fundas which was via dvrexster who gives credit to winmatrix.
A quick post on my day off to HyperTRANSCRIBE 1.5, an inexpensive at $99 QuickTime-based transcription tool. Many in our college need such tools, and they have a Windows version. Must look into this.
Wow. The University System of Georgia went with VMWare Fusion for Windows emulation on Macs, but that was several versions ago. MacTech testing says their competition has gotten so much better:
In the majority of overall averages of our tests, Parallels Desktop is the clear winner running 14-20% faster than VMware Fusion. The one exception is for those that need to run Windows XP, 32-bit on 2 virtual processors, VMware Fusion runs about 10% faster than Parallels Desktop.
Red the entire test report: Head-to-Head: Parallels Desktop for Mac vs. VMware Fusion. If you’re not running Windows on your Mac, and you’re considering it, there are other options as well.
David Epstein with one of the best articles I’ve ever seen for understanding differences and similiarities when moving from Windows to Mac. It’s full of screenshots and helpful advice for understanding the Finder (the file-management equivalent to Windows Explorer). Articles this good remind me that I should re-read the basics more often. I never knew about the Show Path Bar option in the Finder he describes on page two, for instance. 
It’s a really useful tip. There are many many other tips for seasoned Mac users, not just the new ones from the Windows side. Again, one of the best of its type I’ve found.
It’s an annoying six pages to load sequentially. Find the print-formatted version of the article here, but with none of the screenshots that make it so helpful.
This is fabulous. I’ve tried to find out about this, and it’s seemed dodgy based on what I could find. Todd Ogasawara wrote a clear how-to, Read AND Write NTFS Hard Drives Partitions on a Mac for Free in the Mac section of the O’Reilly Digital Media Blog. This is important for Mac users in mixed environments with PCs. I hope to test it out soon.
How to add network attached storage | Macworld
We had an NAS at home some time ago, but I tried to drag a folder with 8GB of pictures in it from an external firewire drive to it. It promptly choked, not being able to handle such a quantity of files at once without getting corrupted (that’s my theory, anyway). NAS is a very easy way to backup and make files available on a small network, so read carefully and consider it.
The Blog from Another Dimension offers this advice for those going From Windows to Mac: Three Biggest Tips for Switchers:
Having helped several people make the switch from Windows to Macs, I have seen pretty clearly some common problems people have when making the switch. Walt Mossberg wrote a short article on this, and his observations are pretty spot-on, albeit abbreviated and limited. I just figured I’d do my own long-winded version.
Modesty doesn’t serve this blogger well. What he calls “long-winded” I find to be thorough, with well-annotated screenshots and good explanations, and more than the three tips he promises. Most Mac users as well as recent switchers and those considering the change will find good information here.
I’ve wanted a solid overview of how to run OS X and Windows together and Macworld has provided it with Best of Both Worlds: OS X and Windows I’m in the market for a good reference about it, too. This article is a good starting place.
Prepping for an inservice presentation, I found The How-To Geek”, a slew of helpful tips for Windows, Mac OS X, Office, Linux, and much more.
For example, I was looking for tips on Microsoft Word, and found Search and Replace Specific Formatting (fonts, styles, etc.) in Microsoft Word. I did not know you could copy and paste style attributes like that – I knew about it in advanced video editors, but not in Word. A valuable tip.