Something Besides Windows

Have you ever wanted to try out another operating system on your computer, like one of the Linux operating systems? Or perhaps you would like to run Windows 97 or even have access to some of your old MS-DOS programs or games (I loved the DOS versions of Doom and Duke Nuke 'em). Of course you can do it anytime you want ...if you are willing to erase your current Windows operating system or put in a dual-booting system that can sometimes raise havoc. But no one I know wants to erase their Windows or any other radical such solutions.

Well now, our friends at Microsoft have come up with another solution for us. It is called Virtual PC 2007 and it is absolutely free. It only works on Windows XP and Windows Vista systems, but that probably accounts for most of us. With it you can have several different computer operating systems running on your one computer and switch between them with the click of a button.

When you switch to a different operating system, the entire computer is then devoted to that other system. For businesses, this could mean that old systems can continue running while switching over to Windows, making the migration much easier. For all of us, it means using one computer for everything rather than buying separate computers for each operating system. And if something crashes in one system, it does not affect the others...you can switch right back to the other system and you are running just fine.

Another interesting feature is, with the proper add-ons, you can copy something from a program in one operating system to another program in a different operating system. For instance you can copy a document from a spreadsheet running in Linux to Excel running in your Windows.

I have always want to play with some of the incarnations of Linux, but didn't feel like buying another computer. Now I can do it on my same machine. And the fact that Linux is so much more bullet-proof, faster, and more efficient than Windows means I might just use Linux for far more than I do Windows. One day, when I have some time, I am going to give a try and let you know.

To learn more about Virtual PC 2007 and download it, head over to a special area on Microsoft's Web site that will give you all the details. Let me know if you try it out.