Part of being a Mac addict is learning how to live with your Mac in a Windows world. We've been calling on Virtual PC for all our Wintel needs for years, and version 5 makes it easier than ever to use PC-only peripherals and software and to open those stupid EXE attachments, worms, and other viral nuisances. Life is good.
Like many big-name applications, VPC 5 is the first Mac OS X-native version. Not on OS X yet? No worries — VPC 5's key word is interoperability: between the Mac OS and Windows, and now between Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. One VPC installation runs in either version of the Mac OS and uses the same PC Hard Drive Images, so you never have to reboot your Mac or fire up the Classic environment to get at the (virtual) PC.
About those Hard Drive Images: We've always had the option of saving a PC session — even in the middle of installing a Windows OS — but VPC 5 goes a step further with the Undo Drives feature, which allows you to exit a PC session without saving any of the changes you've made to the Virtual Machine. This is a great, painless way to learn about Windows; it's very handy if you accidentally delete a BIOS file or otherwise botch a software (or OS) installation.
We tested the standard Windows 98 edition, but by the time you read this, Connectix will be offering the app with your choice of preinstalled OSs, including Windows ME, 2000, XP (Home and Pro), and Red Hat Linux. After borrowing Windows XP from our pals at MaximumPC and enduring the epic installation process, we have new appreciation for VPC’s amazing ease of use. Install VPC, enter a Windows activation key, and that’s it — undoubtedly the quickest, easiest PC setup ever. Next time we fancy trying another version of Windows, we’ll try one of Connectix's accessory OS Packs, which are basically Hard Drive Images with other OSs preinstalled. You get the OS and the license sans the installation headaches.
Once you get a few versions of Windows installed, you can really geek out and network them via VPC’s Virtual Switch. In Mac OS X, enabling the Virtual Switch turns your Virtual Machine into a full-on network node, where you can run HTTP and FTP servers that communicate with any other OSs running on your Mac and with the Mac itself. In Mac OS 9 and OS X, VPC makes basic networking (with your office LAN, printers, and the Internet) a nobrainer, configuring the PC according to your Mac’s existing settings. Good stuff, since checking Web sites for cross-platform compatibility is one of VPC’s main uses.
The saddest news we have to dispense about VPC is that it’s still not a viable option for playing PC games on your Mac. We used a PC diagnostic utility to determine the speed and breed of our emulated PC. On a 600MHz iBook, it translated to a 400MHz Pentium Pro; on a Dual 800MHz G4, it was a raging 530MHz — maybe enough for a game of Scrabble. The processors scored similarly in each respective machine under OS 9 and OS X, but that 530MHz doesn’t tell the whole story. In Mac OS X, VPC takes advantage of the dual processors, but it uses one processor strictly for powering window redraws, which makes for a much snappier interface. Despite VPC’s AltiVec and multiprocessor support, we were a bit miffed at the minor performance difference between the G3 iBook and the Dual G4. The kicker, though, came straight from Connectix’s tech support. The company knows VPC is slower in OS X — by 20 to 35 percent, due to core differences in the system architecture of OS 9 and OS X. Bummer.
Regardless, if you use VPC and you’re using Mac OS X (or thinking about using it), this upgrade is a must for OS X compatibility and for OS 9 and OS X interoperability. It offers rock-solid PC emulation, though it’s still dog slow (dead-dog slow under OS X). We excuse the sluggish PC performance in light of Virtual PC’s unbelievably easy installation and the convenience of having any PC operating system(s) on your desktop at a moment’s notice.
Coucouvanis, Niko. (April 2002). Virtual PC 5. MacAddict. (pg. 56).
Connectix Corporation
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VirtualPC5W98SE.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
SheepShaver
