Virtual PC versus VMWare (was RE: Where DO you put beta softw are?)

> > Can anyone speak to differences between Virtual PC and > > VMWare? I've used only the latter. > > I've only used the former, so I guess we're at an impasse. ;^) I've used both, but on different platforms (VMware on i386, VPC on Mac). For the purposes of web development compatibility testing, either will be suitable on a powerful computer. I prefer VMware for its networking options, which at my last comparison were a bit more advanced than VPCs - you can have a "real" IP address for a VM, "host-only" networking, or you can even treat the host OS as a router and NAT device, and have a whole fake network on your machine! In addition, VMware 4 lets you specify a directory in the host OS that's accessible from within the guest OS, without having to mount a partition or anything like that. > VirtualPC was recently purchased by MS and will be the core > of their upcoming "Virtual Server" product. If you have strong > feelings about MS this may be an issue for you. Even if you > don't the upgrade and support policies haven't been made all > that clear - this may also be an issue for you. For anyone who's interested, I believe that there's currently an open public beta of "Microsoft Virtual Server" for anyone who's interested. I think that the next big step for virtualization software is to be used to provide virtual servers, and I think that's why MS is interested in this. Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ voice: (202) 797-5496 fax: (202) 797-5444

Here's the URL for the beta (watch wrap). http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/trial/virtualserver.mspx --David K > For anyone who's interested, I believe that there's currently an open public > beta of "Microsoft Virtual Server" for anyone who's interested. I think that ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more -----