DevBlog

I just installed Virtual PC and the first "virtual" OS on my main laptop. If you aren't using it for your development and testing, you should be. VPC allows you to install an unlimited number of virtual OSes and then fire them up as needed. What's so great about VPC? How about testing new beta software like Visual Studio 2005 or SQL Server 2005? Install them on a VPC and you have isolated your production system without the cost of an additional box. How about the upcoming Longhorn beta? I understand it will run under VPC. How about for Internet browsing? Your main machine can be safe by not connecting to the Internet. How about demos? I'll be using VPC for my demos at Southwest Fox and the German DevCon. How about testing and support? Does your customer have multiple versions of Windows or other software you need to test against? While it isn't documented, VPC even supports Linux. I wonder if it will support the Mac OS once Apple moves to Intel. And, VPC is pretty inexpensive. It costs about $100, but you'll need lots of RAM. I'm now running with 2 Gigs and have allocated 512 MB to the VPC, but I do notice the hardware a bit sluggish since the CPU is only a 1.6 Gig processor. You'll also need a separate license for each "guest" or "virtual" OS.