Virtual PC

Connectix sold versions of Virtual PC bundled with a variety of operating systems, including many versions of Windows, OS/2, and Red Hat Linux. As it became clear that virtualization was important to the enterprise, Microsoft became interested in the sector and chose to acquire Virtual PC and an (at the time) unreleased product called "Virtual Server" from Connectix in February 2003.

Version 5.0 was ported by a third party for running with OS/2 as host. This version also included guest extensions for OS/2 guest, that can be used with Windows, OS/2 or Mac OS X hosts using Virtual PC versions 5, 6 or 7. A new version of the guest extensions was included with Virtual PC 2004.

On July 12, 2006, Microsoft released Virtual PC 2004 for Windows as a free product, though the Mac version must still be purchased. The Windows version may be downloaded from here. The equivalent version for Mac, version 7, ends up being the final version of Virtual PC to be released for Mac.

On October 11, 2006, Microsoft made available the first public beta release of Virtual PC 2007 to testers. As expected, Virtual PC 2007 is only available for the Windows platform. The main improvements over Virtual PC 2004 are support for hardware virtualization and for Windows Vista as both host and guest (although Vista guests currently cannot make use of Aero Glass due to the limitations of the emulated video hardware). Virtual PC 2007 hosts can also run on 64-bit versions of Windows although 64-bit guests are yet to be supported. Users who wish to participate in the beta program can enroll through the Microsoft Connect website.

Also on the Microsoft Connect website is the beta of Virtual Machine Additions for Linux.

On February 19, 2007, Microsoft released the final version of Virtual PC 2007[1].

Microsoft announced on August 7, 2006 that Virtual PC for Mac would not be ported to the Intel Mac platform. Microsoft stated “alternative solutions offered by Apple and other vendors, combined with a fully packaged retail copy of Windows, will satisfy this need.” ^[1]

Apple had previously announced and shipped a preview release of Boot Camp. According to Apple, a finished version of Boot Camp will ship with Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard." Boot Camp will allow Windows XP to be installed on different partition of the hard drive of new Intel-based macs. This allows a user to boot into either Mac OS X or Windows, though not simultaneously. The inclusion of a solution to running Windows based-applications on Macintosh hardware decreases the need for an Intel version of Virtual PC.

There is also a competing product from Parallels, Inc. called Parallels Desktop for Mac. This application is designed to take advantage of Intel's new technology called Intel Virtualization Technology which is part of the new Intel Core processor which the majority of Apple's latest computers use. By using I-VT, it increases the performance of the guest operating system, making it more practical for regular use. Parallels Desktop also emulates newer hardware than Microsoft Virtual PC. VMware and VirtualBox have also announced that they will be releasing a Mac OS X version of their software.