Based on googling '(vmware OR virtualbox OR xen) (osx OR leopard OR tiger OR "os x")', there are a number of legally ambiguous (read: illegal) ways of getting Mac OS on plain 'ol Intel hardware. The gist is that you need: 1) A copy of Mac OS, patched to remove any pesky checks that only work on Apple hardware. This is one of the more legally questionable parts, as you're ostensibly downloading said copy of Mac OS from a torrent site (thus sharing your ill-gotten gains with others), and because monkeying around with the OS code itself (i.e., "patching") is a giant legal no-no, at least according to Apple's EULA (well, I assume so... has anyone, in recorded history, ever read a license agreement?). It doesn't look like a stock OS X install disk will work. -- and -- 2) Pretty recent Intel hardware. Your CPU needs to support, IIRC, SSE2, SSE3, and probably a bunch of other fun initialisms. So you probably need at least a Core2Duo, or something along those lines. On the other hand, if you have a spare Panther license, and some patience (and, again, the will to brave legally murky waters), pearpc would be an option. I believe pearpc will work with a stock install disk. It's not the latest-and-greatest Mac OS, but if your goal is tinkering with an Apple UI, it'd be a good start. Of course, you could always just buy a Mac... As for virtualization in general, I've had good luck with VirtualBox when I've been stuck with a Windoze-only app for whatever reason. Performance-wise, I don't think you'll see much difference between any of the major virtualization apps. The main differences would probably lie in the ease of allowing the guest OS to see your external devices (e.g., the iPod+iTunes -- hey, Apple again! -- combo can be tricky). Google would be your best bet in those cases... Good luck, sm