Windows 7 or XP on VMWare for Mac?

[minakichan]

So, I'm not as much of a nerd as I'd like to admit; as a Mac Girl, I haven't really paid attention to Windows releases all that much. Decided to install VMWare and Windows on my MacBook, but trying to figure out whether to get 7 or XP. Thoughts?

Essentially, I'm only planning to use Windows to run my visual novels. I'm a bit adverse to the high space requirements on 7, especially since I never have enough space because of all the anime I have. At the same time, I figure it'd be useful to have 7 so that I get the experience for the workplace. Both cost the same price of free for me, so I'm pretty much only thinking about which is more awesome at this point.

[J.R.]

Hmmm...Well if you're only really gonna utilize it for that function, I'd probably still with XP. JMHO.

[blkmage]

1. Pretty much every business is still using Windows XP. Even then, I don't think you'll have to worry about learning Windows 7.

2. That is my exact dedicated VN machine setup: VMWare Fusion with an XP install. Almost every VN you're going to be playing is going to be a few years old, so running 7 won't be necessary for a while. Since you're running a VM, performance is going to be a lot better with an XP install as well. Having a dedicated visual novel VM is nice because you can just leave the locale on JP (which most Japanese games require) permanently.

Also, whenever it's possible, I try to run VNs natively on OS X. This pretty much happens for a handful of VNs (Umineko, Tsukihime), usually those that use the ONScripter engine.

[Warrior4Christ]

1. Pretty much every business is still using Windows XP. Even then, I don't think you'll have to worry about learning Windows 7.

2. That is my exact dedicated VN machine setup: VMWare Fusion with an XP install. Almost every VN you're going to be playing is going to be a few years old, so running 7 won't be necessary for a while. Since you're running a VM, performance is going to be a lot better with an XP install as well. Having a dedicated visual novel VM is nice because you can just leave the locale on JP (which most Japanese games require) permanently.

Also, whenever it's possible, I try to run VNs natively on OS X. This pretty much happens for a handful of VNs (Umineko, Tsukihime), usually those that use the ONScripter engine.

1. That's a fairly big generalisation. My computer at work had Windows 7 installed on it the week it was released (mainly because it coincidentally died at that point...). Off the top of my head, there's only 2 computers (not particularly owned by anyone) that still have XP on them.

2. I was trying to work out what VN meant for ages... virtual.... nachine....

In conclusion, I like Windows 7, and you do notice and miss the niceties when you go back to XP. If you want it to be nice, use Win 7. If you want more disk space and want it faster, use XP.

[shooraijin]

It could be different for different parts of the world. Here, both corporate networks that I have access to are XP-only. Windows Vista and 7 aren't even allowed on the network except if you have special permission from IT (but they haven't detected my iBook yet ;-) ).

[Kaligraphic]

Windows ME.

[Ante Bellum]

*le gasp*
You, Kaligraphic, are evil and should be sacrificed to Lemonade!

I personally am an XP fan (as are most, I'd say). I tried Windows 7 but haven't done much with it yet. Then again, I mostly use our XP machine for playing games.

[Midori]

Actually, I don't like XP at all. I think Vista's better (except for resource usages). And everyone says 7 is better than Vista, so...

Well, I've never tried Windows 7, so I have no official opinion. You're probably more likely to be able to make XP run how you want in the VM.

[shooraijin]

Windows ME.

Actually, I don't mind Windows 98 or 2000.

[Mithrandir]

Given your resource limitations, I'd go with XP in your VM. In fact, that's exactly the setup I have for my laptop. How much RAM do you have? If you don't have at least 2 GB, you may not enjoy the experience much. I know the VM performance under 1 GB w/ leopard was suicidally slow. For 2 GB under Snow Leopard, it was tolerable.

I don't personally mind older OSs than that, but I've found support for these OS's to be spotty when it comes to the applications I use to watch videos.

[blkmage]

I run a Macbook Pro with 2 gigs of RAM and VMWare with XP. These are my findings:

Chaos;Head had some major slowdown in what little I played.
Cross†Channel was fine for what little I played.
Ever17 worked almost perfectly iirc.
Fate/stay night has a bit of slowdown when there's any major motion.
Planetarian ran perfectly.

[minakichan]

That's for the help! I have a MacBook with 1 GB RAM, so I installed XP. Actually, I'd tried 7 a bit, but it was painfully slow; XP was much better! It was spotty in some places, but I think that might have had more to do with Direct X or my graphics card.

[Bobtheduck]

XP...

I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate WIndows Vista / 7

Galznerking thing telling me what I can and can't do with my own galznerking computer. Can't play FLV files in WMP because they borked it in WMP 12, which comes pre-installed on Win 7. I tried to install WMP 11, but 12 is installed already and it won't let me go backward. There is NO WAY to uninstall WMP 12. I found a program that was supposed to do it for you, but I don't have access to the WMP files. I tried to give myself ownership of those files, but they were all denied.

Search sucks. No search in file, no advanced search.

WMP 12 sucks.

The start menu sucks because it's hard to center in on what I need to open. I've opened the wrong program about 10 times already, particularly when the file required scrolling.

I hate win 7. I just want to have permission to do anything I want like I did on XP. I run a virus scan and stuff. I want control over my own machine! GAAAAAH!!!!

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/25/how-to-take-ownership-and-grant-permissions-in-windows-vista/ this doesn't work
I disabled UAC, supposedly, and that didn't work

I've done everything on every list I've ever read and none of them work.

So go with XP. If they'd just upgrade the ram ability on it, it would be the best OS ever made (once you de-dumb it, anyhow... I'm trying to find out how to de-dumb 7, but it's turning out to be a LOT harder)

[CrimsonRyu17]

Windows XP FTW. I <3 it.

[Valkaiser]

Yah, XP would work better than 7 (though I've heard much better things about 7 than say, Vista *shudder*).
If I have to use a Windows, XP would be my choice until there is no longer support for newer hardware (a day that I imagine will soon come...).

So go with XP. If they'd just upgrade the ram ability on it, it would be the best OS ever made (once you de-dumb it, anyhow...

I assume you speak of the inherent 3.5GB limitation, correct?
That's what WinXP 64 bit edition is.
Unfortunately it never caught on and the driver support is pretty woeful.