I just saw something similar to this but the other way around, running Windows in Linux

[ctfblog.977mb.com]

dtanderson

This is based on CoLinux (aka Cooperative Linux), which allows for running just about any Linux distribution in the same way.

It seems that the andLinux guys have put together a ready-to-go package using Ubuntu.

Anyone who's tried this, does the sound work? Thanks.

keeblerelf

The 32-bit requirement is only next to Vista, but I have a feeling it applies to XP as well. Can anyone confirm this?

TGHW

I guess i can see some practicality in this, It would be nice to stay consistent on my windows partition (that has been collecting dust for about 6 months) but other than that, I see no real use for this. I know so many linux users trying to emulate windows apps, I find it such a strange concept for a windows user to want to use linux apps. On top of that, most linux/open source apps are already ported to windows (pidgin, gimp, OO.org, etc.)

It's a novel idea, but at the end of the day, you're still having to use the windows platform which IMO defeats the purpose.

AnthoMacP

I am currious as to whether they will create a version running gnome.

ghostwind

I'll check it out when I get home, but would this work for something like MythTV?

MythTV can't run in a virtual environment because of the abstraction that the hardware goes through. Does this work in a similar way, or can it actually 'see' the hardware?

IckesTheSane

@xint: Why not? Some of us have software that is Windows only, and are no suitable replacements in linux.

holymogwai

nice once you use konquerer or Dolphin file manager its hard to use Windows Explorer.....I especially miss the ability to split the window
defiantly gonna give this a try!

superbryant88

What a cool trick.
I know that's I've ventured into Linux territory two times, and reverted back to Windows out of fear of the unknown.

I think this app is a good start to getting acclimatized. Cant' wait to try it out.

fishlips20

I dunno 'bout joo MOFOS but I don't wanna run LINUX apps on WINDOWS.

xint

is there a Gnome Ubuntu version of this (to run gEdit and Rhythmbox)?

d0lph1nK1ng

what gno gnome? (read it twice, it's tricky)

jeffeb3

So is like other VM's where windows xp home edition gets left out in the cold? I really notice an improvement in quality when using Ubuntu's built in video player over VLC on my windows. I use dual-boot and will only use Linux to watch movies, tv shows etc.
I think it could be a particular setting I've done in windows (by accident) that lowers quality of video, cause i tried a DVD straight from the disc and some of the background appeared in those low-bit blocks, maybe i should reinstall my video card driver? again it is a noticeable improvement w/ Ubuntu's player, same machine same hardware, dual boot.

okcomputer360

Does there exist a Gnome Ubuntu version for running programs like gEdit and Rhythmbox?

d0lph1nK1ng

It would be awesome if something like this for Mac Applications existed too

Dooga

just installed it, and I am getting errors when it tries to connect to x (with the firewall disabled)

ghostwind

Looks interesting, I may have to check it out. If I can get my X-fi sound to work, unlike Ubuntu, I would be happy.

RoamingBison

Beautiful! Marvelous! I can't wait to get home and try getting Amarok running.... wooohooo!

Thanks Lifehacker!

mawcs

BasKet Note Pads is my favorite KDE Application. Komodo is nice, too. This would bring a better version of Pidgin to the Windows OS for sure. For those who have tried this, what is the performance like?

lwdallas

@Logical Extremes: Erm, short of the VNC sharing... me! I installed andLinux on a VMWare machine and then went into Unity mode. It was weird. :)

Also, for what it's worth, it didn't seem to work in Parallels (caused a crash loop on my Parallels VM). Don't know if that's par for the course or just my install.

Adam Pash

/me wonders what would happen if he used andLinux to run WINE to run andLinux to run WINE to run...

Equis

OK, who's going to be the first to try this within Parallels/coherence or VMware/unity on a Mac? Oh yeah, then also do some nested VNC screen sharing on top of that. I have a straight jacket with your name on it.

Logical Extremes

@KEEBLERELF, I installed andLinux and amarok and can say yes, sound does work though the pulseaudio drivers.

bnbeckwith

It's well done, but I just can't remember a single linux app I want to run on Windows :) I think this project is a bit l'art pour l'art.

morningkarma

Hey, this is very neat! I'm gonna try this right now :)

Joshiii-Kun

I am running andLinux and really like it. I can keep my Linux skills sharp without sacrificing the multimedia features of my Laptop. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to learn Linux or to college students who are learning Unix.

robroy911

going to try this with amorak...goodbye wmp!

arglebargle

I do the exact opposite. I run Ubuntu and use SeamlessRDP to load Windows apps from a remote Windows server.

For people without access to a remote Windows machine, you can also use SeamlessRDP with VirtualBox or VMWare.

Check out: [www.cendio.com]

bobbydale

Then you must not be aware of the massive collection of free, quality software that is available for Linux.

This is much easier than dual-booting. Thanks for the article.

amishsniper

Unbelievable. Just saw the info on andlinux on digg yesterday. Was planning to try it out...This guide is a definite time-saver!!!

muralick

No thanks. I'm having enough trouble with my dual boot Ubuntu/Windows system. The more complicated your system, the more troubles you are asking for.

Capone

Thank you! Now someone build andMac or something.

nintendude

I'm wondering if this runs the new KDE4 libs that technically would allow native KDE apps on windows to begin with...

ocdude

@mickbw: I agree I used Wubi and have to admit that when i had a ubuntu cd and it said it would erase my HD in order to install , I was never going to attempt (risk) installing onto my main rig.

Wubi was great, although i thought it took awhile to install since it had to download for awhile.

okcomputer360

@Equis: Why, hole in the space-time continuum, natch!

This post + reference to SeamlessRDP = AWESOMENESS!!!

I now have a viable migration path for my agency's move to Ubuntu.

jaxun

Is there a way to uninstall this if you decide you don't like it?

I really liked the idea behind Wubi which allowed you to install Ubuntu from within Windows but it hasn't been updated to a new version of Ubuntu.

mickbw

@mickbw:
Ubuntu Alpha 5 due out Friday (Feb. 22) has fully working Wubi. I've been running 8.04 using Wubi for a week now. :) There's a thread on the ubuntuforums if you need help.
[ubuntuforums.org]

w3stfa11

Is there a difficult process in uninstalling? Does it screw up your Windows installation when you uninstall?

w3stfa11

@mrosedal: I have a Linux machine that is not a dedicated MythTV box. I leave it on 24 hours, it records programs, and occasionally I watch them; the rest of the time it is just a "regular computer"; I can see why one might want that with Windows and MythTV...

massysett

I'm not linux expert but I am already for the average user. I might give this a try. Lots of great things linux offers, looks like Linux & Windows are playing nice in the little sandbox. Oh look, here comes apple to spoil the fun lol.

ma5t3rw1tt

@IckesTheSane: Why would you want to use this or a virtual machine for Mythtv? Isn't the point of the machine to be dedicated to the task of TV. Who cares if Windows is installed on that box at that point.

mrosedal

@Meetloaf13: I would try Amarok, the best music player around. There are some other Unix apps that are essential to me (like Mutt and Vim) but yanking them out of Unix would make them a lot less useful.

massysett

I've been running this for a few days now at work. I'm a Linux guy, but my desktop here at work is Windows because the products we use have an SDK for Windows only. Using andLinux, I do most of my work using Linux tools, but build my project using Windows (cygwin actually).

It took some extra work to get it functioning just right, but I think it will pay off. As for using GNOME applications, I installed the minimal (XFCE) install, and used aptitude/synaptic to install the GNOME apps I wanted.

One thing to be careful of however, is that by default you are a root user. You need to create a user account and modify some startup scripts to login as anyone else.

The andLinux and CoLinux teams definately deserve some kudos for this. Thanks folks!

dcraven

So what is the benefit of doing this over using, say, vmware player? From what I understood, this is just running Linux through a virtual machine anyways.

watcher_b

Never used Linux...are there any apps that are "MUST-HAVE" that I should try out with this App?

Meetloaf13

@xint: lol, yea, it does seem kinda awkward ;)

Afterall, we already have sooo many other "replacements" for these..

Notepad.exe --> Notepad2...? MetaPad...? Notepad+?
Explorer --> Explorer2? ExplorerXP? others, [www.simplehelp.net] ?
Add or Remove Programs --> MyUninstaller, CCleaner, others too I think.

Alot/some of these have even been discussed here.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not "bash"-ing (lol) the project/program, but it just seems awkward.

I guess, for the *NIX-user who is stuck at work, or on campus with XP/Vista machines, and wants to use *NIX software....cool idea ;)

Then again, good approach to "getting your feet wet" - since you can use, and get used to using cool *NIX software in Windows, before diving into *NIX.

ahoier

Here is a tutorial [ctfblog.977mb.com] that shows you how to do this. You can run windows seamlessly in Ubuntu using VirtualBox.

dtanderson

@daddydave: For windows, Freemind is a great, free, mind mapping program, or you could give Personal Brain a try - the pay version is awesome, and a pared down version is available for free (i'm still waiting for my 30 day free trial to expire so I can't tell you how well it works.)

Tank

There are a couple of Linux apps I'd like to play with in this configuration. They are vym (a mind mapping program) and granule (a Leitner box flashcard program). The best Windows programs for these functions are payware: Mind Manager and Vtrain. Mind Manager is rather expensive, and although Vtrain is reasonable and I am a registered user, but I would still like to play with granule because of my interest in Leitner systems. Last I checked, vym had been poorly ported to Windows, and the Windows port of granule wanted some DLL I didn't feel like scavenging.

daddydave

you had me and then you lost me with the memory issues. i need my whole gb of memory just to run windows. i wish this was backwards so that u could run windows apps in linux. yes i know there is wine, but wine sucks. as a matter of fact, just about everything in linux sucks. linux would be the superior os if it ran like it was supposed to without you spending 48 hours scouring forums to fix it everytime it broke. just bricked my ubuntu installation trying to get it to recognize my nvidia graphics card.

marksman7328

@xint: ...and I don't let my MEATLOAF touch my MASHED POTATOES either! It's filthy and unnatural.

greeze

I use this to synchronize my music prefs. I have a home office and my personal computer runs Ubuntu Linux, using Amarok as the media player, with a MySQL database for the Amarok information running on an always on server (ironically a windows server, but such is the life of a .NET developer). The music collection also resides on the windows server. By running andLinux on my development box and pointing Amarok at the same MySQL database, I get 'synchronized' playlists, play counts, and file ratings. Very convenient.

For all those on here commenting that they see no purpose for this, somebody saw enough of a purpose to sink a lot of time and effort into creating this and many of the commentors on here seem to have found nice uses for it as well.

yachius

"...Linux in the confines of a virtual machine window, but wouldn't it be great if you could run those apps side-by-side with your Windows apps-like Linux users can do with WINE or OS X can do with Parallels or VMWare?"

Not to be picky but andLinux uses XMing as its X Windows Server to achieve the 'coherency' style mode you are talking about. There is no reason you couldn't use XMing to achieve the same effect with a virtual instance of Linux or a remote machine for that matter. I currently use it this way with the free VMWare Player to run Ubuntu along side XP on my laptop. That being said I've always wanted to give CoLinux a try, but it was just too much work to setup. andLinux looks like the best way to play with it.

johnnullstream

Crapper, no Vista x64 support, I was looking forward to this...I guess I could always load up Linux virtually.

Meetloaf13

@Tank:  I'm aware of Freemind, but the graphics support seems pretty weak. I'll look into Personal Brain, thanks.

daddydave

I installed it immediately and I love it! Who cares about usefulness!

Averain

Have to admit I installed this just to play Frozen Bubble. After a few games, however, I remembered why I stopped running a Linux machine. The simple fact is that Windows is better and faster in every way. I know my fellow Geeks out there will rebel against this idea, but facts are facts. The best Linux build out there functions on a par with Windows 98SE. Sad but true. There are many reasons to use and support OSS, but Firefox is the only app that's ever managed to live up to the promise. Otherwise, most open source apps function well below par.

Just sayin'.

Terry

Many many Linux/etc applications have been ported natively to Windows already - it'll run quicker, look more-or-less seemless, take less resources and such.

I can't think of any Linux applications that haven't either been ported to Windows natively, or have good alternatives (either ported, or regular Windows applications)

dbr

@xint

linux is great man, pop in a live cd, try it out.

nikoPSK

BTW -

Add or Remove Programs seems to take of the uninstall just fine.

Terry

Sounds great for a Linux lover stuck at a Windows machine.
But, for all the occasional playing I do with Linux, I cannot think of a single application that is worth the amount of resources this would take.

Bob Brown

@ dbr,
I'm a researcher in academia and this may help us out a great deal. All of our major data crunching programs are linux based due to the very nature of open source (free, promotes collaboration, etc), and actually most windows ports for a lack of a better word, suck. However in my lab, and in most labs the computer demographic will be dominated by windows machines, with linux boxes being number crunching workhorses (ie clusters). With this program, we can use our windows machines to access the linux programs, especially since more often than not, the linux boxes are in a continuous number crunching state.

dvschnk

Man, I'm thinking about doing this to run IE6 on Vista. Sad, isn't it?

kobewan

Sweeeet! I'm going to go try this out right now.

karenkleen

This is a nice setup. It works well for me because I do need a bunch of Windows apps but like the ability to use Linux and this is pretty close.

Anyone who needs Windows apps and are stuck with windows, give this a try if you like Linux. You will not get the fancy graphics/etc but you can run applications.

ecltech

@Terry:

"The best Linux build out there functions on a par with Windows 98SE."

To use a cliche: you're doing it wrong. Linux runs faster and more reliably than my XP partition. Not small apps either - Half Life 2 has benchmarks 18% higher in my Mandriva partition than in XP. It helps to be allowed to turn off and uninstall the crap you don't need, whereas Windows forces you to have IE, etc.

"There are many reasons to use and support OSS, but Firefox is the only app that's ever managed to live up to the promise"

Only if you deliberately discount Apache, PHP, MySQL, AmaroK (way better than iTunes IMO), Blender and Inkscape. Maybe you mean higher profile apps like GIMP and OpenOffice, but even they're getting there in a mo noplised market (name commercial apps that are competing with MS Office successfully right now...).

aphexbr

See? I told you the geeks would rebel.

Terry

@Terry

Not rebelling: correcting misinformation. There's a big difference...

aphexbr

What about cygwin? That suits 99% of my linux needs, doesn't involve a virtual machine hogging my memory, and even lets me run things on top of X (for all you people who want gEdit or something).

I can't tell why I'd use this over a regular virtual machine if I needed the entire Ubuntu OS.

TheRabbi

Well, I guess this reply is to Terry and people like Terry, true, Linux is par with Win98, for GAMES, but for REAL people who do work, not play games, Linux works great. I am a systems admin, I run Windows 2000, 2003 servers and Linux servers, I *have* to reboot my Win servers at least once a week, or they crash, and this advice came from MS, so don't go spouting about configuration blah blah blah, my Linux servers run for months without a hick-up, I have one, an FTP server that is going on a year, yes a year, without reboot, try that on a windoze machine, I dare you, bottom line is Windows SUCKS because Redmond is more interested in MONEY than their user base, why do you thing they let their user be the beta testers? Oh yeah, they call it a release, but it is buggier than an ant hill, and everyone with half a BRAIN knows it, now don't get me wrong, I think MS has some decent stuff, and I am a Microsoft Partner, but they suck big time at OSs, and don't even get me started on the crap of IE7. So you lamer gamers put away the games and do some real work, if you know how, kids these days need to learn a work ethic, but that is a totally different rant.

drooney57

@AnthoMacP: To you it's useless. To me, it allows me to experiment with Linux without dedicating a machine to it. And it allows me to use my knowledge of Windows to compare the various ways Linux and Windows do things (that is, I can draw parallels between the two with my own eyes ).

Plus it allows me to test my websites in a WebKit browser without resorting to Apple's stuff.

mb

I can tell you all one app that was once but no longer made for windows and is a valuable part of my visual effects pipeline and that is Shake compositing application. I usually always need Maya, Houdini, Photoshop, Illustrator, Shake all on the same machine, not one OS runs all of those apps unfortunately. But this will now allow me to run Shake on my Windows which is awesome! haven't tried it yet but hope it works.

sikamore_studios

Microsoft has the largest user base between any computer-based company. They have to worry about satisfying the needs of more people than Apple and Linux. No one single operating system will cater to everyone's needs, but undeniably, Windows is the standard to which all others are compared, and for a reason.

Webran61

Lets be honest, shared folder suck. Here's how to mount partitions onto andLinux:

*the following was extracted from [wiki.gp2x.org] at 6:35PM PST on Feb 21st 2008*

" * go into your andLinuxPreBeta folder, open the file settings_static.txt and add the line

cofs1=E:\

at the end. Make sure, you have a newline at the end of your settings_static.txt

* start andLinux
* open a shell
* create the folder

/mnt/e

(with the command: mkdir /mnt/e)

* open the fstab (e.g with the command vim /etc/fstab)
* insert the Line

1 /mnt/e cofs defaults 0 0

the one at the begining of the line represents cofs1. If you want do add more partitons to access you can precede with cofs2= and 2 /mnt/ ... and so on. (do not use the zero's. It is used by the andLinux boot script.)

* restart andLinux
* now you can access the partition with Windows and andLinux at the same time. Make sure you do not edit the same File with Windows and andLinux at the same time. "

Now, repeat the last line aloud. Do yourself a favor and don't try to open the same file simultaneously in windows and andLinux (that sounds funky).

harmful

@massysett: I see your point. I have mythtv, but I went ahead and dedicated a box specifically for that purpose. So I never log into it except to watch tv. I use Linux anyway so it doesn't really affect me.

mrosedal

wow, nice one, very excited to get it work on the windows XP. Initially whenever I try Konsole, or any KDE app, I get the popup: Error: could not launch 'Konsole': could not connect to 192.168.11.150:81 , it got fixed, when I restarted the PC & logged into console as root & then started the apps. How could I make the konsole & other apps launched from the andLinux menu using any user other than root ?

rapid.fish

Sounds great! Question, however, referring to memory... Vista uses a max of ~4GB RAM. Does andLinux take from that 4GB? If my machine has 8Gb physical, will andlinux take from the greater pool, leaving vista to use its 4gb max? Sorry for my naiveté, but I have all this extra RAM...

popemello

"There's no doubt that Linux-particularly Ubuntu-is a killer operating system full of excellent apps, but for about a million reasons, you're stuck running Windows as your main operating system. We understand, these things happen."

Adam Pash, you SHOULD doubt it because I'm not STUCK using Windows. I PREFER Windows to *nix and OSX. One thing I liked about Lifehacker was you guys weren't in the habit of getting in petty digs at MS or whoever. A largely platform agnostic place where all of God's computing children could frolic under the light of our monitor glow. I'll thank you for not disparaging my educated choice of platform with continued readership, thanks. Having gotten that out of the way, this is a pretty nifty implementation of VM, I'll have to check it out next time I don't want to reboot to use Ubuntu.

omegakumar

Be careful folks - your Dorks are hanging out. Allow me to be more specific (and, while I'm at it, correct at one mistaken assumption) -

I have not been, at any time in this discussion, referring to (or even thinking about) games. What I have been talking about is all the aspects of computing that matter to people who AREN'T geeks. While Linux may (in many cases) handle better 'under the hood', it's the 'over the hood' aspects that 90% of the population care about. And this is precisely where Linux falls short (and when the attempt is made to measure up, we usually end up with resource hogs like Gimp or Open Office).

What most people want out of their computer is the same thing they want out of their car - they just want the damned thing to WORK. They don't know what's going on under the hood and they don't want to know. And they don't give a rat's ass about whose car runs more efficiently (they do, however, care about whose car has electric windows and locks, or whose car is convertible).

And this is where Microsoft really delivers. When you plug in a new printer, it just works. When you buy new software and put the disk in the drive, little windows pop up and tell you what to do about it. Microsoft has been so incredibly successful because they've realized that this is what people want - they just don't want to think about it. This is also why people like you can make a living as network admins - the people who use the network don't care about anything other than whether or not the network WORKS. That's what you get paid for. The people who are paying for it probably couldn't care less which operating systems are involved.

And for the record, I do like video games, although I rarely play them on computers. I also, like you, work with computers. I do not, however, feel that this circumstance gives me the right to pass judgement on people who choose to play games on the computers that they paid for and have every right to use as they please.

Terry

I'm a bit baffled by the comments above. andLinux is an incredible innovation!
I have it running Ubuntu apps seamlessly with both Vista and XP. And I mean seamless. Lovely.
I always like messing with linix - now I can without teh dual boot nonsense!

deSelby

@massysett: Vim is available as native windows application. I've been using gvim/vim 7.0 on XP for more than a year now, it is my default text editor, so I would know.
... and so is mutt (Google "mutt windows"), but may not be as easy as gvim/vim.

desipenguin

Okay I have tried to download this numerous times with no succes I have done the torrent and the normal download....it always ends up a a unknown filetype any body else have this problem

superbryant88

@xint: please... get off the internet. You can leave your computer at the door. Come back when you learn English

-emory-

Okay, before we start WWIII, let me just interject that all the Windows and Linux supporters that have turned this comment board into a battlefield are missing the damn point. Software like andLinux is suppose to encourage interoperability between Windows and Linux, because as much as strong supporters of the former or the latter would hesitate to admit it, both operating systems have their strengths and weaknesses. AndLinux is suppose to eliminate the countless hours that are spent arguing over which operating system is superior, not start more arguments. If you are content with just one OS, good for you! I however firmly stick to the old aphorism "The more the merrier!" So, all you enraged geeks, stop wearing out you keyboards and my mind with useless bickering over OSs and start directing your vast intellects towards more pressing problems like global warming, cancer, and Halo 3... okay, maybe not that last one ;).

harmful

Thought I would do something crazy here -
I went to the site [juice.altiris.com] and downloaded the SVS tool. A free for home use located at
[juice.altiris.com] If you have never seen or used Software Virtualization you are in for a treat. This tool runs on WINDOWS but allows you to install windows software without affecting your Windows install.

With the JUICE installed I created a Virtual Layer for andLinux and then activated the layer.

rbinz

Terry the only instance where gimp is a resource Hog is font rendering. Open Office starts up faster for me then notepad does with both Linux and Windows versions... (linux notepad is great by default though anyways....) For most people Linux would be a better system. You sound like you havent used it in like the past 5+ years (maybe a decade?) Ubuntu most stuff works straight out and alot more works straight out on Linux then it does with Windows......

Yeah ok my USB Mic had trouble with Linux but me and a friend fixed the problem for everyone with that brand/type of headset with a pretty simplistic work around. There is tons of community support... Again the reason Windows is successful has nothing to do with knowing what people want. Its success lies in the Software manufacturers nothing else. If everyone jumped ship tommorow and said no more Windows versions of anything You can bet people would stop using Windows....

There is also the fact that Most OEM manufacturers (this is slowly changing) Do not offer a Linux solution and most people out there have little to no clue there is something out there other then Windows (ok most know OSX these days but still) People do have a right to use Windows dont get me wrong and Windows is great for compatibility but again this has nothing to do with microsoft it has everything to do with the people that make the software and hardware.

I like you though Linux was rubbish till i sat down and tried it out for real. The scope has changed with ubuntu and many of the Linux Distrobutions out there now. And for most people yes.... They just care that they can grab it and work with it. Hence they buy from OEMS and spend about 400 dollars more then building it themselves would cost. People are lazy and this just shows.

Alot of people are starting to look at Linux as a Viable solution now with the introduction of Vista, Some software manufacturers are starting to look as Well. Valve for instance is looking for someone to help start porting games to linux... The problem i take with Microsoft is that as it progresses people are losing more and more freedom with what they are allowed to do.

Gladly they have the system builders version of the OS out there these days which if you build your own system and can support the system yourself without whining to MS.... You can save quite a bit. Vista Ultimate 32 bit for about 170 USD.... Home Basic for about 50 bucks etc.... Still with the DRM and other stuff in Vista i find it a bit sketchy still and alot still doesnt work with it. But we'll see....

linadragon

@drooney57

If you personaly have to reboot any machine, Windows or otherwise, once a week then I would suggest you are not very good at your job. And Microsoft never told you to reboot them as such, you are clearly making that up.

I (and many thousands of others) have 'windoze' machines serving a ton of people in varying situations that never need rebooting unless they need updates applied to them. I could even skip the updates and they would never need to be rebooted unless something went badly wrong.

Not comparing Windows to any other OS, it just gets my goat when tools like you crack out the tried and tested Microsoft bashing lines.

SjE

SjW

Am a bit stunned by some of the comments above and the various Linux or MS bashing. The Life Hacker crowd normally seem a bit more normal than this. Anyway as an IT tech person, I have some Linux boxes at work which are great for some things (server, web, reliable etc) and we have Widnows where that is good (applications features and usability). Yes the Linux stuff is getting friendlier all the time and I think that's great and I certsinly want to use it more myself at home but there are a couple of apps I still need windows for and also I am studying with the Open University in the UK who still ship some windows only course apps so I'm still anxious about dropping windows altogether so this applications and this article telling me about it are great. If you are happy with your set up (windows or Linux) and don't feel the need for this, then click the back button for heaven's sake and get over it.

John_Daniel

This is a wonderful piece of software, it blows the doors off of VMWare! I love it.

I'm a Mac/Linux convert due to a notebook (HP DV9000) purchase in February of 2007 where Vista was my only option (64 bit of course!). My Vista evaluation is very simple and comes down to this: when I sit down to work on a project, I need to work on the project, not the OS. Troubleshooting Vista != productivity.

This is not a Windows smear as much as I'm praising and advocating Linux and Mac. I worked well with Windows from 1999-2006, and that's a good run! It's definitely over though.

I still have no idea what the heck I'm gonna do with my $1700 Vista notebook. Just orderd a MacBook last week, should get here tomorrow at which point my Vista notebook moves to 2nd string as a portable home-based computer.

andLinux makes my XP notebook at work much more usable, for that I am grateful. Thank you LifeHacker for the introduction.

fusion27