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Now, I don't want to start an opinion war or anything - when it comes to discussing which is better, the PC or Apple Macintosh, that's a fairly easy thing to do. Each computer platform has its advantages and its ardent users. I've used both platforms productively and subscribe to the "best tool for the job" approach. But I must confess that, predominantly, I use a Mac. As much as I enjoy the Mac, though, there are times when I need to use a Windows application.
My need to use a PC started when I got a new client. The customer used only PC and had a project with lots of Windows files (AVI, Targa, etc.). Worse yet, they wanted me to work with a specific program, Adobe Premiere, so they could adjust the project at will on their PC in the future. No problemo, since I had a PC handy, but the problems came up when I couldn't share files across platforms.
I found an easy-to-use, cost-effective solution to my problem in Microsoft's new Virtual PC 7 (VPC7). With VPC7, Mac users can run almost any Windows application and can access and share PC files, applications, and devices.
Virtual PC 7 for the Mac was acquired by Microsoft in February 2003 from Connectix Corp. It's the first version of this long-running emulation software program to support G5 processors. (The latest update to VPC7, version 7.0.2, is fully compatible with OS X Tiger.) VPC7 comes in five different flavors. Each has a different version of Windows, from the XP Home edition at $219 to XP and 2000 Professional at $249. If you already have a supported version of Windows, you can get on board for only $129. With an older version of Virtual PC, you can upgrade for $99....