PC-only applications have their virtual uses

Traditionally, Mac users have felt a certain animosity towards Windows-based PCs. This is probably because, over the years, many have been forced to use this 'other operating system' when they did not want to. The reasons Mac users get forced into using PCs - though fewer do each year - have not changed much over the past 20 years. A main one is that certain enterprise applications only work on PCs. There are thousands of older PC applications that were custom-made for corporations, and it is not practical to rewrite them for Macs. Often the source code is not even available, so these apps will remain PC-only until the company goes under or rewrites the application from scratch. In the past, certain commercial/consumer applications were never written for the Mac because its market share was not big enough to support developing a special version just for them. Games are the most obvious example, but these days, if a game is good, there is a Mac version out already, or will be soon. The most commonly used business applications that remain PC-only are specialised tax and accounting applications, some legal or law firm applications, AutoCAD (a high-end engineering design application), Dragon Naturally Speaking (the very best voice recognition software), and a fistful of Microsoft's business applications, notably Outlook, Access and Visio. I occasionally use a couple of PC-only applications. The first is Garmin GPSmap installer, so I can install nautical charts on to my Mac. Once the charts are on my computer, there are plenty of Mac apps that will read them and recognise my GPS. The second PC-only app I use is PatentPro patent application software. It is the best program for creating patent applications. To run either of these apps, I use Virtual PC. The latest version, Virtual PC 7 has several improvements over version 6 but, most significantly, it will run on G5 processor machines, which 6 wouldn't do. Lack of speed was the biggest complaint about version 6, and tests thus far indicate that 7 is up to 62 per cent faster. Version 7 also requires less knowledge, experience and patience to install and set up. In my case, installing it with Windows XP Pro took about 20 minutes and essentially involved clicking three buttons, loading three disks and entering a couple of preferences. When it was done, all my network and peripherals were set up and working. The new VPC is better integrated with the Mac desktop so that cutting, pasting, dragging and dropping can be done from one desktop to the other. You can now also share folders across operating systems, meaning you can save your PC documents alongside your Mac documents. Another big improvement is VPC's graphics handling. Virtual PC screen redraws are substantially faster and clearer, making those addicted to PC games happy. Most of the applications mentioned above have been tested and run on VirtualPC. Even AutoCAD, in its 3D solids modelling mode, runs pretty well on version 7, assuming you have a fast Mac. In the future, Virtual PC may not be the best solution for running applications designed for Windows machines. First off, more and more enterprise software developers are building their applications to run on UNIX or Java because it is more universal. In addition, a company called Transitive has developed a hardware emulator called QuickTransit which allows you to run Windows applications on PowerPC processors and to run PowerPC applications on X86 processors. It is reportedly very fast and invisible. Transititive will not be selling its technology as a standalone product, but it is selling it to computer and software manufacturers. Though the technology was demonstrated on Macs, we will not know if Apple is one of its customers until early next year. The other reason VPC may not be the solution for PC apps is that more and more developers are recognising that Apple is gaining ground in all areas of enterprise and small business. As I understand it, the developers of AutoCAD (www.autodesk.com) are seriously considering a Mac version and the PatentPro developers have already started on theirs (www.4patpro.com). The Mac version should be ready for testing soon. Still, every once in a while, I come across stubborn organisations that insist only a PC can access their website or run their product and, as long they exist, I will be glad Virtual PC is around and is turning into such a handy tool.