Filed under: Enterprise, Software, Productivity, Internet Tools
My InternetPC: Use Windows XP on your Mac through a browser
I can't tell you how often I hear this from my clients: "Acme Widgets requires that I use Microsoft Project for this job. Can you install it on my Mac, please?"My answer is usually something along the lines of "Um... no. Well, sort of. I can install it, but not under the Mac OS - we'll need to buy you a copy of Virtual PC since Microsoft Project is a Window-based application. Virtual PC costs $249. And you know that Project costs about $600 bucks, right? I'll give you a break on my installation charge, but figure it'll take about 90 minutes to install everything and apply all the security updates, show you how to use it, etc. Oh yeah, and although it will look and act just like a Windows PC on your desktop, it'll be pretty slow. Actually, it'll be really really slow and you'll probably hate every grueling minute of it. But hey - if that's what your client insists on, then that's what we'll do. You can thank me later."
Looks like I might not need to have that conversation anymore because My InternetPC, a web-based "Personal Computing Service," is Mac-compatible and if it lives up to its claims, it's going to make life a lot easier for Mac users who are forced to use Windows applications for certain tasks. It's basically a service that lets you use a an internet-based Windows desktop through your web browser and they claim it's wicked fast, compared to Virtual PC. It's less complicated than accessing a remote PC via Remote Desktop and it's a lot cheaper for the casual Windows user. There's a month-to-month plan for $25 or subscribe for a year for $250. Not to mention fewer headaches since there's nothing to install on the Mac. You get access to a pretty comprehensive software library and whatever app you need to use you pay a one-time or monthly subscription fee for it. Microsoft Office, for example, is $20/month or $200/year. If you need to use an application that isn't on the list, they'll install that for you, too.
I just registered for a 24-hour trial so as soon as they send me a login I am going to take this baby for a spin. I'll let you know how it goes!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
cheerful said 7:15AM on 11-20-2005
The bottleneck lies at your internet speed. I am thinking in terms of gaming from there. lol Since its supposed to be a "supercomputer" but I doubt we can game there even though the professionals can install your Halo 2, Counterstrike, WoW ... etc in there. We can be owned with single digit frames-per-secs rates.
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motech said 2:58PM on 10-21-2005
thats ridiculous ,
spending 2-500$ a year ?
my father needs a pc for certain reasons,
so we bought a emachine
for 350$ and stuck it in the basement
networked and installed remote desktop.
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Michael Vega said 3:00PM on 10-21-2005
cough cough.. sorry to break the bubble but Microsoft already offers Remote Desktop Client for
cough cough... free!
It seems to do everything as the $ software and is pretty darn fast even on G3 macs. Save your monthly fee and buy a Mighty Mouse instead.
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Jake of 8bitjoystick.com said 3:49AM on 10-22-2005
That is nuts when you can get a real PC for 400 new or a used one for less than that.
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Jake of 8bitjoystick.com said 3:49AM on 10-22-2005
Also I think that Virtual PC for Mactel is going to rock.
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Aaron Vogel said 3:31PM on 10-21-2005
Michael, I think you're missing the point. The service is for those who don't want to maintain another computer ala the first comment. Many of us may be perfectly comfortable setting up this kind of thing, but many, MANY normal users aren't. And for an office of Macs that have a client that requires them to use a PC only software, that subscription can easily be added into contract cost. So your snide elitist comments are completely lost on them.
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DukeTogo said 3:47PM on 10-21-2005
Plus some of the posts don't take into account the cost of the software, such as MS Project cited in the article. $600 a pop. I assume you're not promoting piracy right? You WOULD go and pay for a full copy of Office if you needed it on that cheap eMachines PC ... right?
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DukeTogo said 3:51PM on 10-21-2005
Plus some of the posts don't take into account the cost of the software, such as MS Project cited in the article. $600 a pop. I assume you're not promoting piracy right? You WOULD go and pay for a full copy of Office if you needed it on that cheap eMachines PC ... right?
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DukeTogo said 3:52PM on 10-21-2005
AND only Windows XP *Professional* has the ability to support Remote Desktop...
But NOT Windows XP Home edition.
So if you're RDP'ing to that $350 eMachines PC, and it came with Windows XP Home, then I'd love to know how you 're doing that. Unless you installed Windows XP Pro. And if you did, I assume you PAID for it right?
(* to be precise, other versions of Windows also support Remote Desktop, such as Media Center, Terminal Server etc. )
Note that I'm not talking about running the CLIENT.
I'm talking about supporting the ability to RDP *TO* the box.
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Mark said 4:15PM on 10-21-2005
Dude, you haven't heard of LOGMEIN?
it's completely free... works from Mac (safari) to XP or ME or 98 (i think 98)
i use it all the time to get from my work laptop to my home computer (through the firewall since they don't allow VNC connections... this thing works through HTTPS)
check it out here: http://www.logmein.com
You won't regret you did!
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Jack Brewster said 6:35PM on 10-21-2005
So it's going to be the Mac users that will make subscription-based Windows/Office computing a reality?
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motech said 1:03AM on 10-22-2005
instead of them paying 500$ a year with software,
pay a tech once 150$ to set it up,
buy the software in one shot - and then guess what,
it will never expire .
200$ a year for ms office, thats horrible.
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michael said 11:57AM on 10-22-2005
this sounds like one of those dumb DOT-COM-BUBBLE era bad ideas... $450 a year for a virtual system w/ office... BLAH! you can get a refurb winXPPro box ($300 for a Dell Opti), buy office (OEM), and be darn close to the yearly fee.
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Dudster said 1:46PM on 10-22-2005
Remote desktop requires the host computer to have its own fixed IP address which can be a pain. I have an iMac and have been using www.gotomypc.com to access my work Windows XP desktop for a couple of weeks. It works in any java-compatible browser It is also subscription-based - but cheaper - and works like a beaut - except if you accidentally remotely shut down the computer (doh) - then you're screwed.
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Dean Stuckmann said 4:20PM on 11-19-2005
RE: LogMeIn
When try it, I get a message that I need a plugin x-3amlabs-raperfview when I try to log into my PC (XP Pro) from my Apple iMac using OS 10.4 and Safari. It asks for a PC password and then it seems to hang with Java. Where can I get this plug in? What am I doing wrong?
Thanx
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