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!