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Microsoft's Next Virtual PC Will Run Linux

Fallen Kell writes "Contrary to previous reports, eWeek is reporting that Microsoft's new version of Virtual PC will support Linux as a virtual OS. I for one am very glad that MS did not strip out all the capability from this great product."

13 of 322 comments (clear)

  1. A good indication that american's dont read... by thona · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...expecially the ones from eweek.

    MS has dropped SUPPORT for Linux. VirtualPc could always run linux, but until now (from conectix) ths was official. Means: you could call connectix and ask for help when your linux started to misbehave.

    MS is now dropping SUPPORT for Linux. Means: you CAN run Linux, as this basically is a i386 emulator, but if you run into trouble, don't call Microsoft. Also, dont expect MS to provide the nice (and necessary) accelerated graphics drivers that emulators normally come with. Ms will only support Windows.

    THis is all MS ever said - actually they pretty directly said Linux will run all the time.

    But then, you really had to read to understand this. And eweek seems to have lost this ability.

    1. Re:A good indication that american's dont read... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      You're quite right, and I'm amazed that we have to go through this yet again, you're surely aware that VPC emulates an S3 Trio32 as a graphics adaptor? I don't think X is ever going to have much trouble supported that, provided Microsoft don't start messing around with the emulation in an attempt to purposly break existing Trio32 drivers..

      It seems that the only people who were ever concerned about Microsoft "droping Linux support" in VPC were the ones who had never actually used VPC before and have no idea what it is capable of. This is a none-story; of course Microsoft wouldn't support Linux on VPC. Neither Connectix nor Microsoft ever supported OS/2, Netware or BeOS on VPC either and I never saw anyone complaining about that!

  2. Re:Why wouldn't they? by mirko · · Score: 2, Informative

    or OSX.

    --
    Trolling using another account since 2005.
  3. Re:Nice! by Sqwubbsy · · Score: 3, Informative

    The "obvious gain" for Microsoft is they can have people keep Windows and try Linux products (albeit in a less than ideal situation) and give people a reason to stick with Microsoft. This quote:

    "We don't support Linux, and we also don't support third-party applications. We direct customers to their Linux providers if they have an issue running Linux on Virtual PC, and if that Linux provider triages that issue as a Virtual PC bug and submits a bug report, we'll work with them to fix the problem. We're treating them like we treat third-party applications," she said.

    Kind of says it all.

  4. Re:JESUS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    What do you know about the hardware that VPC emulates and how good a job it does of it? For a start the PCI controller in VPC is buggy. Any idea what it is or how to detect VirtualPC to work around it?

    Didn't think so. This bug has never been fixed and I'd be amazed if it was fixed in VPC 2004. Most operating systems have to specifically test for VirtualPC in order for PCI to work properly. So the OS does have something to do with it when it comes to VPC. Not as much as the fanboy above you seems to think, but more than you seem to believe.

  5. Re:Price-dumping? by thona · · Score: 5, Informative

    ::In case you don't remember, Connectix makes the ::VMWare series of products

    No, they never did.

    Connectix made the VirtualPC series of products, and VmWare made the VMWare series of products.

    Connectix was bought by Microsoft, but VMWare is independant.

  6. It's both by yerricde · · Score: 3, Informative

    Where the hell did you get that idea?

    There's a version of Virtual PC that's an emulator (Virtual PC for Mac OS X), and there's a version of Virtual PC that's a VMware clone (Virtual PC for Windows).

    The real thing to be worried about is if they stop selling the standalone Vrtual PC, and only sell it bundled with Windows

    Not at the price point at which Microsoft is aiming according to the article: "the software will be available by the end of the year, through Microsoft's existing retail and volume licensing channels, for an estimated retail price of $129." If Microsoft were to bundle Windows into Virtual PC for that price, we'd just get really cheap Windows, and by Adobe v. Softman (EULA cannot tie bundled products together), we might be able to resell really cheap Windows separate from VPC.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  7. Re:How does VIrtualPC compare by croddy · · Score: 4, Informative
    VMWare is an unbelievably outstanding product. a couple of the labs here on campus run it on top of RH7 for MS Access (cringe), while the machines continue running their Linux-based neural modeling software without interruption. my personal experience with it has been that it's a rock-solid, very efficient way to run multiple OS'es on a single hardware box.

    deploy an installation image to multiple 'machines'... install from ISO images on HD... bridged, NAT'ed, even local-only networking... hell, it emulates sound hardware! I know a guy that even got a Longhorn beta running on VMWare ;-)

    ...and while MS's VPC Server product isn't yet available, VMWare's GSX Server product is available right now. VMWare's stuff is *well* worth the price of entry.

  8. Re:*yawn* by DragoonAK · · Score: 2, Informative

    I think you mean, they won't be that blatant again. Anybody else remember their tricks with Windows 3.0 and DR-DOS?

  9. Re:What the hell? by RevMike · · Score: 2, Informative

    2 weeks ago: "we do not support the Linux platform but you can try and run it"

    This was defined as: "MICROSOFT IS RIPPING LINUX OUT OF VIRTUAL PC!"

    Today: "we do not support the Linux platform but you can try and run it" which is now being defined as "YOU CAN STILL RUN LINUX!"

    Can someone explain this to me because I am totally confused.

    Easy!

    1. Two Weeks Ago in Redmond: We've removed Linux from the list of officially supported applications.
    2. Two Weeks Ago on Slashdot: The sky is falling!
    3. Yesterday in Redmond: We've removed Linux from the list of officially supported applications. It still works. We checked a couple of major distributions. We just won't answer the phone if you call to ask us stuff like "How do I make my sound work in Linux." Furthermore, if the Linux community does find a bug, they can submit it to our bug tracking tool.
    4. Today on Slashdot: The sky is falling! No, it's not! Yes, it is!
  10. For better capability, VMware is already the best. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    VMware really have better capability. Even the guest OS is not offical supported, you still have great chance to run it under VMware. For example, I had tried OpenBSD on both Virtual PC and VMware. In VMware work fine, while the installation is not success with Virtual PC.

    except capability, if you run Windows 2000/XP as guest OS, VMware have better performance.

    moreover, there's only Windows version of Virtual PC. I really won't feel anything loss even Virtual PC doesn't support Linux as guest OS. (trust me, you will regret if you pay for Virtual PC without try the VMware first, our company is a good example.)

  11. Re:Kernel oops. by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 2, Informative

    > Internet Explorer does support CSS1 quite well.

    *Wipes coffee spatter from monitor* You have got to be kidding. Can you say, "IE box model hacks"?

    Even if the poster's statement were true, it'd still mean that MSIE was still a couple of years behind Mozilla and Opera, both of which offer near-complete support of CSS-2. (Not just a number thing, either -- there's considerable differences between the two.)

    So far as Office-generated XML goes... not gonna touch that one, tempting target though it may be.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  12. Re:What the hell? by antiMStroll · · Score: 2, Informative
    Easy, this statement:

    This was defined as: "MICROSOFT IS RIPPING LINUX OUT OF VIRTUAL PC!"

    is incorrect. The original poster jumped to that conclusion because MS hid the Linux option of a product with once excellent support under 'Other'. Posters - both pro-MS and anti-MS - quickly pointed this out and the discussion revolved around whether this constituted a drop or reduction in support. Nothing in today's announcement changes that. You preconceptions confuse you, go back and read the old posts.