Microsoft is offering a free Virtual test drive for its Windows Vista Ultimate operating system, with help of the Microsoft Virtual Lab technology (Virtual Machine) a web-hosted test drive is offered to users with most of the functionality of regular versions, except browsing the internet.

The free test drive is currently available to web visitors from the United States and Canada, which can be bypassed easily using a USA/Canada proxy ;),the test drive requires Internet Explorer 6 or later, a browser plug-in, and a broadband Internet connection. A minimum 1024 x 768 screen resolution is recommended for the trial.

You can also view twenty videos highlighting the major features of the OS with links to test driving them.

In addition, Microsoft is providing a Virtual PC file with a 30 day trial of Vista Ultimate to test the OS in Virtual PC environment without risking your OS, which can be downloaded from the link below:

Download Microsoft Windows Vista Virtual PC Image >>

Virtual Windows Vista Ultimate Test Drive >>

You may notice a slight delay or pause as you experience the product. This is due to the fact that this is a hosted trial and is dependent upon your bandwidth, local machine resources, etc. This does not necessarily represent the actual experience you will have with Windows Vista if it were installed on your PC.