Win4Lin vs. other virtualization products

Win4Lin Pro Desktop 4.0 lags behind free alternatives

One of the oldest virtualization products, Win4Lin, is starting to show
signs of aging. Win4Lin flourished in 2000, when competition was sparse
and expensive. But seven years on, not only are there several
virtualization products, but almost half a dozen are available for free.
With no visible improvements over its previous version, Win4Lin Pro
Desktop 4.0 is now outdated and outclassed.

http://applications.linux.com/applications/07/04/23/1558242.shtml?tid=13

Sjoerd Hiemstra wrote:

> 
> Win4Lin Pro Desktop 4.0 lags behind free alternatives
> 
> One of the oldest virtualization products, Win4Lin, is starting to
> show signs of aging. Win4Lin flourished in 2000, when competition was
> sparse and expensive. But seven years on, not only are there several
> virtualization products, but almost half a dozen are available for
> free. With no visible improvements over its previous version, Win4Lin
> Pro Desktop 4.0 is now outdated and outclassed.
> 
>
http://applications.linux.com/applications/07/04/23/1558242.shtml?tid=13

Thanks for this link! It is good to find out that there is still work
being done on Win4Lin kernel patches for newer kernels, read the first
comment on the article.
As pointed out in that comment, don't confuse Win4Lin Pro with Win4Lin
9x, they are totally different products.
The 'one of the oldest virtualization products' is Win4Lin 9x, that is
indeed showing signs of aging, as it is no longer supported, and does
not work on newer kernels. But it is still the only one that runs
Windows programs at 'native' speed (or even faster).
Win4Lin Pro doesn't come anywhere near this performance, and like all
the other virtulalization products, is just too slow for my relatively
old hardware. And it does not even run full-screen!
This is the main reason why I will not update my OS for some time,
investigating which product will be the best replacement. My best hope
is that these third-party kernel patches will become available.

-- 
DV.

Dik:

Thanks for pointing out the link.  I didn't see it.

I emailed 58th Street just now asking for more info.  If this can be 
done, I'm a buyer.

I put off upgrading my OS for as long as I could as well, and for the 
same reasons -- I didn't want to lose Win4Lin 5/9 as I still have a 
couple of Windows apps that I need, and I gave up dual booting several 
years ago.  However, I now NEED Beagle at my place of work, and it is 
not available for Xandros 3.  I had to bite the bullet, upgrade, stop 
using Win4Lin 5/9, and begin using Parallels.  Parallels is a good 
product, but is slow, like any other virtualization product.

In response to Sjoerd:

Win4Lin Pro is acceptable, and is slightly faster than Parallels. 
However, up until recently, there was no cut and paste between OS's. 
I've not tried the newest version which claims to allow this.

The article also mentions the free VMWare player.  Please note however 
that this is a limited product.  You can use it 'as is' but cannot 
modify it.  You need the full VMWare product otherwise, and it is 
decidedly NOT free.

Also, the $29 version of Win4Lin 5/9 did not give network support.  You 
had to buy the full version for that.  I bought six copies at close to 
$100 apiece (Canadian) and then Win4Lin dropped further support.  I will 
NEVER buy another product from Win4Lin, no matter what they change their 
name to.

Frank.

Dik and others:

OK, this is legit.  Jim Provan, who was part of Win4Lin before, has 
split with the company and is now supporting Win4Lin 5/9 on his own.  He 
used to do all the kernel patch upgrades when he worked for Win4Lin 
anyway.  They have given him access to the source code.  2.6.15 kernel 
patch is already available, and Jim is working on 2.6.16, 17, and 18, 
with a specific patch for the Xandros 2.6.18-dcc-smp kernel at my request.

I subscribed for a year.

Frank.

Guess I should have included the link.

http://www.win4lin9x-support.com/

Frank