Open Source Software vs. Commercial Software:
Migration from Windows to Linux
An IT Professional's Testimonial
Sun VirtualBox (VMWare Player, VMWare Workstation, Microsoft VirtualPC replacement)
This software is very similar to most virtual machine programs out there, like VMWare Workstation and Microsoft VirtualPC. VirtualBox seemed like the best option to me. Fedora also has built-in software for virtualization, however I found that users were complaining of problems when trying to install other operating systems like Windows. VirtualBox fully supports a wide array of operating systems, like Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It's very lightweight (30 MB or so), yet has all of the high end features of a commercial product (like snapshots, full audio/video hardware support, USB support, etc). VirtualBox even supports Microsoft's Direct3D (which is still in experimental stages).
Another really nice feature about VirtualBox is "seamless" mode. This allows you to run VirtualBox in the background, and allow you to use the applications in the guest operating system with an integrated task bar, allowing you to minimize/maximize applications to the task bar, and at the same time access your Linux desktop. This is very similar to how Wine looks in Linux, where you can run your applications seamlessly along with your native Linux applications, except that you get the guest operating system task bar just above your Linux task bar. The really nice thing about seamless mode in VirtualBox is that it runs the applications in the native guest operating system environment, such as Windows XP and others, but it appears and operates like it is running right within your Linux environment!
To install VirtualBox:
Run it and you should be up and running. I was able to install a successful Windows XP SP3 virtual machine and it works without a hitch. I only use this for running applications that don't work in Wine.
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