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Four Years Ago: Connectix creates whole PC in software

Arif Mohamed GameSpot Europe

Published: 13 Jul 2001 06:58 BST

If you think the idea of downloading a Pentium processor via the Internet is just nonsense, think again. Connectix, maker of the QuickCam Web camera, has built a complete software PC for the Power Macintosh.

Shipping in two weeks, Virtual PC (£139 inc. VAT) emulates, in software, elements such as MMX instructions, Sound Blaster Pro sound, and S3 graphics. The program takes up 800Mb of hard disk space, and lets Power Mac users run Windows 95, 3.1, NT, and DOS, OS/2 and NeXT OpenStep operating systems. It also recognises a range of Mac peripherals including Ethernet, CD-ROM drives and modems.

Virtual PC includes Windows 95 or 3.1 and can run office applications as well as multimedia games. "Does it run Quake: yes or no? That's going to be the end question for a lot of users," said Brian Grove, product manager for Virtual PC. "We say just run the software and see. Some of our engineers came from Apple -- it's a real tribute to them."

Virtual PC is a different type of program from Insignia's SoftWindows, said Grove: "The main difference is we're doing a whole PC in software, they're just emulating an operating system". He added it was no competition for real nuts and bolts PCs: "For the price we're charging, we're not going to put a PC manufacturer out of business."

Connectix plans to develop the product further with better Mac integration, full cut and paste, higher quality graphics and performance and DirectX support. "Obviously, speed and performance are the trade-offs at the moment," added Grove.

Separately, Grove noted Insignia had halved the price of its product: "It's a complete response to the launch of Virtual PC," he said.

Connectix can be contacted by telephone on 0181-561 1414.