Virtual Bridges, a provider of desktop and enterprise virtualization solutions for business, announced today the release of a major upgrade to its award-winning Win4* Family of Desktop Products.

As more and more organizations seek alternatives to Vista, the need for preserving valuable legacy Windows applications becomes an essential requirement in delivering a winning solution. Whether it is Linux, Solaris or BSD, users need to integrate Windows compatibility into their offerings.

“Virtualization in general offers a lot of potential, but Win4Lin specifically delivers it. With the master Win4Lin image it's easy to build a Windows Win4Lin desktop that is impervious to virus and malware,” said Jon Watson, President KPG Media Corp. “It's easy to back up entire Windows installations, which previously would have required expensive applications and a high degree of technical skill. It's even easy to run Windows apps floating on a Linux/BSD/Solaris desktop.”

The Virtual Bridges Win4* brand professional-grade virtualization products help businesses extend their Open Source desktops without additional hardware costs. There are three Win4 Desktop products: Win4Lin Pro Desktop allowing users to run Windows applications on the major Linux Distributions, Win4Solaris allowing users to run Windows applications on Sun Solaris and Win4BSD supporting users of FreeBSD and PCBSD.

Win4 4.5 Desktop Highlights include:

• Support for multimedia-rich LTSP setups, including remote audio playback and recording to/from the terminals (Win4Lin only)
• Full bridged networking functionality and options
• Support for newer Linux host kernels (2.6.22 and up) (Win4Lin only)
• New full-screen Windows session option from Linux login screen (Win4Lin only)
• Improved, dynamic single-application launch capabilities
• Automatic, seamless default color printing, and improve printing performance
• Improve mouse tracking and click response on remote displays
• Enhanced audio support on Solaris Workstations and Sun Rays, Including recording capabilities (Win4Solaris only)
• Maintenance roll-up from 4.0, many other bug fixes and minor enhancements
• Automatic support for ALSA playback and recording (Win4Lin only)
• Automatic detection and support for EsounD playback and recording

Major Features of Win4 Desktop Products:

• Run Windows Applications and Desktop on Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD/PCBSD Desktop at near-native speed
• Ability to display either full desktop mode or "floating" application mode
• Windows malware resistance through "renewable" Windows architecture
• Allow re-use of your existing Windows license for both cost-savings and broad application compatibility
• Cut and paste between Windows and Host Desktop
• Two concurrent user sessions per license
• Headless startup
• Bridged networking support
• Full integration between the Open Source Desktop and Windows file systems for user documents and settings

"It is becoming more and more important to have a software direction which takes advantage of Open Source solutions where possible. Doing so requires continued support for Windows applications and entire desktops,” said Bob St John, Director of Business Development, Serenity Systems International. “Win4Lin is the easiest, most scalable, and integrated solution I have found to protect this software investment"

“Whether customers need to run only one or two Windows applications or they need to run the whole Windows desktop in the most secure, reliable mode possible, this Win4* release delivers the solution”, said Jim Curtin, president and CEO of Virtual Bridges. “As Vista languishes in the market, more and more customers are turning to alternative platforms. Win4Lin and Win4Solaris allow them to bring their legacy applications with them in a secure, affordable and timely manner.”

“Win4* products offer the best ease-of-use and host integration available today in the desktop virtualization market,” said Leo Reiter, CTO of Virtual Bridges. “This release is chock full of functionality requested directly from our hundreds of thousands of users.”

Win4Lin Pro Desktop was picked as the winner in a LinuxWorld Magazine face-off review against VMware Workstation™ and was the winner of the prestigious LinuxWorld Expo Award for Best Enterprise Integration Product.

Pricing and Availability

Win4Lin Pro Desktop 4.5 is available immediately. Win4Lin Pro 4.5 is being offered to new users at the price of $49.99. It is a no-cost update for Win4Lin Pro 4 users and is available from www.win4lin.com.

To buy Win4Lin Pro 4.5 now, please visit https://www.win4lin.biz/servlet/Detail?no=8.

Win4Solaris Pro 4.5 is available immediately. Win4Solaris Pro 4.5 is being offered to new users at the price of $149.99. It is a no-cost update for Win4Solaris Pro 4 users and is available form www.win4solaris.com.

To buy Win4Solaris Pro 4.5 now, please visit https://www.win4lin.biz/servlet/Detail?no=9.

Win4BSD Pro Desktop 4.5 will be available during Q4 2007. The products will be available through http://www.win4bsd.com/. It will be available as a no-cost update to existing Win4BSD users. Win4BSD Pro 4.5 will be available to new users for $29.99.