Microsoft Corp. announced Tuesday it has started shipping long-waited Virtual PC 7, the newest version of the companyis PC emulation software.

The products release has been delayed numerous times over the last year. Tuesdayis announcement follows through on a promise made in July that it would ship VPC 7 in early October after the release of the Windows XP Service Pack 2, which shipped in late August.

In May of this year, Microsoft further delayed VPC7s release from the first half of this year until the second half due to what it called longer-than-expected development and testing.

Among the many new features, include a 10% to 30% boost in performance, support for Appleis Power Mac G5, better graphics handling, expanded preferences, one-click Fast Save to shut down Virtual PC, share folders and removable media, zero configuration printing, and more.

Virtual PC 7 is available for US$249. It is also available as part of Microsoft Office 2004 Professional Edition for $499. An upgrade version of Office 2004 Professional Edition is also available for $329.

Microsoft said other editions of Virtual PC 7, including Windows XP Home Edition, Windows 2000 Professional, Standalone and Upgrade, will be available in the next few months.