I cannot, for any reason, other then advertising dollars perhaps, understand why Macworld gave VPC 7 a review of four mice. The only thing I can fathom it getting such a high review for is the fact that it is the only version of VPC that you can run on a G5.
Four mice is very over rated. If we are working on a five mice scale, I would have to give it two, at the most. If I am reviewing it right after trying to do work in the program, I would be inclined to give it 1.5 out of 5.
Guest PC
Enter Guest PC, an alternate virtual x86 environment for your Mac. Since I was so desperate to find a Mac solution to this problem, I bought it. Big mistake. I guess you could call this a Guest PC review too.
Guest PC is a lot cheaper in comparison to VPC 7 because you are not purchasing a license of Windows XP. Since I own a copy of XP Pro, this works out great for me.
It took more then seven hours for Guest PC to install Windows XP SP2. It works though, and is much more reliable, and more stable then VPC 7. Its also slower then VPC 7. Which is saying something. The instillation process for Guest PC is outrageous. I clocked the time it took from putting in the XP serial number (of which I had to do twice, first to initiate Guest PC to boot from the XP CD, and again when actually registering XP) into Guest PC to the time I logged in and saw all the icons and was about to use the Start Menu to just over seven hours.
Conclusion
I never thought I would say this, but Virtual PC 7 is a much better product then Guest PC. Guest PC tries very hard to rip off the VPC interface, and it all seems clunky and sluggish.
Both products are slower then molasses in January on my dual proc. 2.5 Ghz G5. Neither of these products support more then 512 MB of RAM, even though my G5 has 3 GB.
I will chalk this up lessons learned, expensive lessons learned. I seem to always learn the hard way.
I need to buy a PC for testing and development. Bring on the Intel based Macs. Too bad they are so far away.
Article comments
1 - Tan The Man
I would have bought VP7 but at the last minute Microsoft dropped native graphics support. Dammit. There's a game that isn't for Mac but has 3d graphics and it looks horrendous without native graphics. So I guess I'm waiting for VP8. :o(
2 - Aaman
Try Mywebexpc - I find it meets my needs pretty well
3 - Joe
Why wait Go buy a PC. You will be much happier. Running OS X any version is like pulling hair out of head. With Windwos life is so much easier.
4 - Tan The Man
I don't think mywebexpc is what I'm looking for. I don't want a PC, I had one for 4 years, and had a mac for the past 4 years. Mac = WINNER.
5 - Ken Edwards
Yes, indeed. I dont think mywebexpc looks like the right thing either.
I have purchased another PC, after selling one a little over a year ago.
I get it Tuesday. I'll post about that soon.
Having a PC is the best option, no matter how annoying they are.