MS VPC for mac

[Will_Richo]

Hello. I am looking at getting VPC for my PB G4. Mainly to run some stuff that cannot be ran on MAC easily or at all. But ?

1.Is it easy to use
2.Is it stable
3.Can i then use my MS Office (Word,Excel) on there? instead of buying office x for mac
4.Any other relavant info? thoughts on this product etc

Many Thanks

[ElDiabloConCaca]

1. As easy as Windows is to use. Installing new OSs is also as easy as popping in a CD and booting from it.

2. Yes. As stable as Windows is.

3. Yes, unless you only have one license and have it installed already somewhere else. As long as you're abiding by the EULA of Office, you're cool -- the PC may be virtual, but the license agreement is still real.

4. It's slow as molasses, even on powerful hardware. I would not consider VirtualPC for Mac to be an adequate Windows PC replacement -- rather, as a backup measure in case you're somewhere and need access to a PC and just don't have one. Also, as far as I know, the "virtual hard drives" (that are actually just big files on your disk) have a limit of 16GB. You can have up to three hard drives per PC, so the maximum amount of storage you can have is 48GB (16GB x 3 hard drives).

[Convert]

Ok, sorry for the obvious pun, but do you run Windows, in a window?

Or does it boot up as an OS would?

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Either way -- in a window or full-screen... you have the option of running Windows both ways. But no, you do not "boot your Mac into Windows." ViirtualPC's Windows is emulated, and runs just like any other application on your computer

You can still work in all your other Mac OS X applications while VirtualPC cranks away in the background, just as any other application.

[Will_Richo]

Thanks ElDiabloConCaca. I only really need a couple of things, but as you say you never know. Most of my peers use MS PC's so there will be times!
Will i be able to veiw e-mail xls attachments that come in on mail using the vpc/office/exel software, ie just set the programme path to use it for this type of file?

[mdnky]

1.) For the most part, yes.
2.) Well...you are going to be putting a M$ (Windows) product on there...so that's a bit of ??? I've never had any major issues with mine though (iBook G3 & Win2kPro).
3.) You could, but chances are it'll be slower than a tortoise trying to climb a steep, icy hill. I've yet to see VPC run good on any processor/speed combo, be it G3s or G4s. It'll get the job done, just don't expect it to be blazing fast while doing it. Hopefully VPC7 on the G5s will be different.
4.) Try finding alternative programs for what you're doing that are Mac native (or possibly *nix native). Usually there's a viable option out there.

[symphonix]

Actually, if you pick up the MS-Office for Mac professional edition, it includes VPC with winXP, as well as Windows versions of Office.
However, I hate VPC and never use it. There's *always* a better version for Mac of any software you want to use.