14 DAY TRIAL // Virtual PC 2007 is one example of virtualization technology from Microsoft along with Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1. Made available in February 2007, on the heels of Windows Vista, Virtual PC 2007 has quickly proven a hit with users of hardware emulating technologies. In this context, Microsoft has applauded over 1 million downloads of the application. At the end of March, Ben Armstrong, Program Manager on the Virtual Machines Team at Microsoft revealed that Virtual PC 2007 had passed the 1 million downloads milestone after approximately 40 days of availability.
The free virtualization technologies from Microsoft, including Virtual PC 2007, are essentially designed to drive the adoption of Windows Vista. Virtual PC 2007 will work in tandem with Vista, but Microsoft has restricted the usage to the corporate and professional environments citing security concerns, and locking Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium users out. While focusing initially on the corporate uptake of Vista, Microsoft promised to liberalize the Vista virtualization, and came close to doing so the past month, but then changed its tune and reinstated support for the current policies.
At this point in time, only Vista Business, Vista Enterprise, Vista Ultimate, Windows Server 2003 Standard, Windows Server 2003 Standard x64, XP Professional, XP Professional x64 and XP Tablet PC Edition can be used as host operating systems, while Vista Business, Vista Enterprise, Vista Ultimate, XP Tablet PC, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 98 Second Edition and IBM Os/2 Warp 4 Fixpack 15, Convenience Pack 1 and Convenience Pack 2 can be integrated as guest platforms with Virtual PC 2007.
After celebrating 1 million downloads in March, Virtual PC 2007 has now passed yet another milestone. Released on February 19, 2007, Virtual PC 2007 was downloaded 1.8 million times just in the first 60 days, and as of July 10, Jeff Woolsey, a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft focused on Microsoft Virtualization stated that the 2 million downloads milestone has also been surpassed.