Review: Virtual PC 7

I have had it with Virtual PC 7
I have been meaning to review Virtual PC 7 for some time now. So I guess you could call this a review of the latest and greatest version of Virtual PC. I must admit up front though, it is by someone who is very pissed off about wasting so much time and money on a promise.

We were all promised that when Microsoft bought Virtual PC (VPC) from Connectix, that we would get a better piece of software. The only reason Microsoft bought VPC from Connectix was to release a Windows version of the software (which runs a heck of a lot better, by the way, then VPC 7 does).

I have used VPC for a very long time. I remember the good old days. That was, of course before Microsoft took over VPC.

While VPC was never very "fast," it was at least stable and reliable. Then the G5 chip came out and of course VPC would not run on the new architecture. Of course we had to wait over 13 months for Microsoft to release VPC 7. Yea, they are committed to the Mac platform. Bull shit.

I pre-ordered my copy of VPC 7, meaning I payed top dollar, not the discount price you can find today. I should have taken the money I spent on VPC 7, plus the money I spent on Guest PC a few months back, and put it in the bank to buy a PC.

The following two screen shots make up 99% of the launches of VPC 7 that I encountered. Virtually every single time I started the program, it had to go through a diagnostic test of the virtual drive.

Yea, thats fun.

When I did get it to work, which I swear was around 10% of the time, it was only after 30 to 40 minutes of trying to get it running. I would have to restart VPC, restart my G5, reset permissions, pull my hair out. Strike one.

Then all of a sudden the internet settings would not work in VPC 7. I had to turn on Virtual Switch to get internet working. Now, no internet. With no internet, its not worth the plastic it was printed on.

I would really love to say that I have had a good, or even mediocre experience with VPC 7.

I need VPC 7 to do two things: test web sites on Windows, and make sure my FileMaker solutions worked as expected in Windows. Strike two and strike three.

Article Author: Ken Edwards

Ken Edwards is the Gaming Editor at Blogcritics, and calls Breaking Windows home. Ken works part time for Student Publications at BGSU as the Webmaster and System Administrator. He is also a freelance web developer.

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