Vista or XP Host for friends system?

[Mel_3]

- I just got DOS 6.2 working on a windows XP Pro PC... running an old Micro-Focus Cobol application.
- I did this on a test system I have.

- Now I need to suggest a computer for my friend who uses the application...
- once we get his hardware I will set all this up again on his machine.

The Question:
- Should I urge him to get an XP machine... like I used... or will Vista work OK?
- Does it matter AMD or Intel.. Single or Dual Core ?

Thanks for any info.

[Perryg]

If all you are interested in is DOS you can run that in any x86 pc. Windows XP is good but one of these days it is going to go away. It has already passed its end of life and is just hanging on by a thread. Still it is a very good Windows OS. I use Vista business and it has been reliable for me and does everything I want it to do. So I guess as far as your friend is concerned you need to decide what else is wanted/needed and go from there.

[Mel_3]

Well my thoughts were to go ahead and put on an XP machine since that is what I have it working on now....

... then later this year when Windows-7 is officially out get him to buy one of those and migrate VirtualBox, DOS 6.2, & the associated legacy app to a Windows 7 PC... then that should hold him until he can get is old COBOL dB migrated so somethint a little more modern

Problem is... I can buy a Vista machine for only slightly more than a used XP system...

Is it as easy to get VirtualBox running on Vista as it is XP ?

Thanks.

[Perryg]

Short answer is yes.

Long answer is the OS is different just like Win 7 is different. Slight learning curve to find everything, but after that it is just the same. IMHO.