Not quite sure if this is the right section, but you guys know lots of good stuff. Is there a good OS X emulator that I can put on my Windows XP system?

I have PC's and at work/lab they run everything on mac's. Due to program compatibility issues, it would be nice if I could run mac software on my PC so I can do work outside of work.

Google brings me a plethora of "free" and "paid" options but I don't know what to believe... I'm rather computer illiterate and just know I like my pcs largely because I am more familiar with them.

Thanks for any help and suggestions!

-Diana

1. Get a Mac
2. Get OS X and try to install it inside an VM (there are How-Tos out there dealing with installation on regular x86 hardware, should be possible inside VMware or VirtualBox too)
3. Install FreeBSD, since Darwin (the OS X core) is largely based on it

Other than that I know of no good ways to emulate it.

As a long time Mac user (work and home, classic and OS X), I agree with pludi. The best option is to get a Mac.

Operating system emulators tend to favor going the other way -- Mac to Windows. Those that exist for the direction you're choosing, even the commercial ones, have their own issues and are generally considered not worth the time money or effort. Virtual machine imaging Mac OS X has its own legal issues: the only "Ten Version" as I like to phrase it where Apple's lawyers would be inclined to look the other way if someone virtualised it is (drum roll please) OS X 10.4 Tiger server {and only a 'legally-owned' copy -- priced at about $335 USD when it was new -- will pass muster with them}.

I have done a little with Apple's X11 distribution -- of which on this Forum you'll find scads of discussion and info -- in OS X, and I agree it does make up the difference between the two ( or is it three now ? ) platforms. And in terms of just out-of-the-box networking between Macs & PCs, the vanilla user version of Tiger practically eliminated any coughs, chokes and hangups between Apple's SMB protocol and Microsoft's. As I told a relative when he started running Tiger on his G4: "There's next to no sunlight between the two."

Hope this was helpful at any rate.

BZT