Windows does it again: Stiffle competition that is!

[jbooo]

Here is a link to an article posted about Microsofts new Virtual PC 2004 in beta form now, soon to be released...

http://www.msfn.org/comments.php?id=5516&catid=1

As you will see they took out support for Linux and other Open Source OS's. Go figure... I smell an anti-trust lawsuit review coming... hmmm do you think they will survive this???

Time will tell I guess...

Stay tuned

[Horrortaxi]

That figures. But isn't it called "Virtual PC"? It's not "Virtual Windows". You can install a lot of different operating systems on a "PC". Seems the name might now be misleading.

Will they survive? If they stay true to form then any lawsuit only serves to strengthen them in the end. Funny how that works.

[MoparShaha]

I don't think they have removed support for other OS's. I know Virtual PC gives you the option of customizing an image to a particular OS, but I don't think it really does anything. All VPC does is emulate an x86 processor and motherboard. It's not written specifically as a Windows emulator, but as an x86 emulator. Windows is just software that the emulator runs. I seriously doubt you won't be able to run Linux and other OS's.

[MisterMe]

Originally posted by jbooo
Here is a link to an article posted about Microsofts new Virtual PC 2004 in beta form now, soon to be released...

http://www.msfn.org/comments.php?id=5516&catid=1

As you will see they took out support for Linux and other Open Source OS's. Go figure... I smell an anti-trust lawsuit review coming... hmmm do you think they will survive this???

Time will tell I guess...

Stay tuned What you talking 'bout Willis?

Take a look at this screen shot that site:

http://www.msfn.org/uploads/Screenshots/vpc2004_beta/os.png

Clearly "other" guest OSes are there.

[jbooo]

OK This is a windows version of Virtual PC. According to the beta testers it DOES NOT offer support for other OS's except Windows and OS/2
Here is a cut and paste...

We got ourselves a copy of Virtual PC 2004 Beta 2, Build 553 and installed it to see what Microsoft have changed since acquiring this product from Connectix.

Our first thoughts on starting this up we found mostly everything to be the same as Connectix's Virtual PC 5.2, with minor changes in the settings/options and the Virtual PC Wizard as well as the Microsoft rebranding. The first thing we noticed was the removal of Linux, BSD, Netware and Solaris from the Guest Operating System Wizard list, which was bound to happen to Virtual PC in the hands of Microsoft.

[jbooo]

Taken from Microsofts support site here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/virtualpc/evaluation/overview.asp



Power to run multiple operating systems and applications within virtual machines on a single computer.


Virtual disks allow you to containerize a virtual hard drive on a single file on your host PC for easy deployment, backup, and recovery.


Undoable drives allow you to store or discard changes without affecting original state of underlying drive.


Powerful manageability features include:


Security lockout/password protection


Dynamic resolution switching to change guest OS settings


Remote control of virtual machines through VNC (Virtual Network Computing) clients


Supports many Intel-based operating systems within each virtual machine, including IBM OS/2 and versions of Windows


DVD-ROM drive and CD-ROM ISO image support


Intuitive Windows-style user interface http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/virtualpc/evaluation/overview.asp (http://)

[jimthorn]

It looks more like they're just taking out any "wizard" support for the other OS's. I would imagine that you'll still be able to manually install whatever you want. Most Linux users would probably want to install manually anyway.

[jonapete2001]

I might be missing something but doesnt that link clearly show other os's listed. Would linux qualify as other os or am i completly off?