Virtual PC 6 Fits In and Performs

Connectix Corporation today released a new version of Virtual PC, the company’s PC emulation software. Virtual PC 6 focuses on improving integration and boosting performance, especially under Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. Most obvious of the new integration features are a Windows Start menu in the Mac OS X Dock and the appearance of Windows application icons in the Dock when they’re running within Windows under Virtual PC. Connectix says the overall performance of Virtual PC 6 is about 25 percent faster than Virtual PC 5, thanks partly to changes Apple made in Jaguar, and that the improvements should be most noticeable on slower Macs. The speed boost requires Mac OS X 10.2.3, a free update for Jaguar owners that’s yet to be released.

We’re delighted to see the return of Finder-mountable Virtual PC drive images, and we’re also pleased that Virtual PC still supports Mac OS 9 while taking full advantage of Mac OS X. Virtual PC 6 costs $130 for the PC DOS edition, $220 for the Windows XP Home or Windows 98 editions, or $250 for the Windows 2000 and Windows XP Pro editions. An upgrade-only package (with no operating system included) costs $100. The upgrade and DOS editions are available immediately; packages with various versions of Windows will reach resellers in late December.