Virtual PC

Microsoft has set Virtual PC (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx) free. The release makes me wonder if the folks in Redmond have taken notice of Apple’s free BootCamp (http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/) or Parallel’s Desktop (http://www.parallels.com/) app. You can use Virtual PC to “run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same physical computer. Switch between virtual machines with the click of a button. Use virtual machines to run legacy applications, provide support, train users, and enhance quality assurance.” This is great news for those of us developing on Windows boxes who want to test IE 7 (or for that matter, Vista (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/)) without installing the beta on a production system. It will also prove useful once the full version is out, and we want to keep a version of IE 6 handy.