Virtualization Microsoft Style

Has anybody ever tried this out?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx

Comments? Comparative to other virtualization software? Security overview for questionable program usage?

 

i have used it at college for testing OS installs and doing screen shots along the way.

its very easy to use.
it can be slow.
but i was using an old pc at college when i was using it.
lodore

 

Running the beta of VPC2007 on a 3 year old machine. It runs very well and do not have any complaints. I think Parallels is a little more polished but it costs $50 and VPC is free.

 

Anybody know how it compares to VMware? Virtual PC being a road less traveled, would it (or something like http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/) be more secure for testing questionable software?

 

A "road less traveled" doesn't mean more secure at all.

Anyway, I've never used it, but from the reports of people who've used it, I've heard it doesn't compare to VMWare... VMWare being faster, more stable, and infinitely more portable.

 

IMHO VPC is best option for emulating Windows platforms and VMware for *nix.

We use VPC in training runs fine, has the odd ms product type random fits of crashyness (like on the MS SQL 2005 course I did recently).

 

Free so very appealing but having tried it I'm sticking to VMWare at the moment. Parallels almost changed that and is very good and resonably priced. Parallels Compressor tool is also impressive and works on all 3.

 

Ok, now you all have me curious. I've read a bit on the VMware site about their free virtual player, which I guess is the VMware talked about here.

I haven't checked on size of download or any of that yet. It comes with Firefox but no Operating System.

Since I'm running XP, and since the stuff I fanatically download and try is all Windows related (security related, some computer games, etc) this seems like an ideal solution to clogging up my computer with leftover junk when I remove these things.

Now, the question: I'm assuming I can load XP into VM or Microsoft's virtual machine .... BUT, does that mean I can use my current copy of XP or does MS prohibit that? Seems I read in a thread here that they don't allow it to be registered.

I might just download one or the other anyway just to try it out while I'm waiting.

 

you should make sure you download the correct vmware software, some of them aren't free. i'd tell you which one to get, but i don't know, the player i have has an update for it, but there's also an option to upgrade to the workstation, maybe with the workstation you can make your own XP image with your windows cd i don't think you can with the player though.