What do you mean by "forcing"? I'm running Windows XP on VirtualBox without any problems.

If you wanted to legally run multiple versions of IE without having to have multiple Windows licenses for every combination (e.g. IE8/XP, IE8/Win7, IE10 Win7, IE10 Win8, etc...) you had to use the MS-provided virtual machines. However, these were only ever made available as VirtualPC images. So there was no way to run them, even on Windows, without all sorts of machinations (some of which may have violated the ToS).

I was always impressed that Microsoft let you use Windows in a virtual machine on another platform at all (not all their competitors do). But then I realised that it made business sense for them.

Which competitors don't? The only competitor that comes to mind is Apple and they don't block this either -- though I believe they were the last holdout. Nor does Google, in any capacity, with Android or ChromeOS.

Edit: I am dead wrong. Apple only permits the virtualization of OS X on Apple hardware, per the EULA. It does not permit the virtualization of OS X on non-Apple hardware.

http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX1082.pdf

You still can't run OS X on non-Apple hardware can you? I'd love it if they changed that.

No you cannot. They relaxed the EULA to allow virtualization of Mac OS from a Mac OS host, however. You can also use the same licensed copy that acts as the host.

The EULA revision came along with 10.8. Prior to that you could virtualize 10.7 Server, but once again, only with Mac OS as the host, and only with another licensed copy.

The revision came with 10.7 (non server).

kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2005793

Prior to that you could only virtualized 10.6 server.

Hackintoshes are great... if you're content never to update :/

Or have weeks of free time to root out issues with zero documentation except for random forum posts.

And a willingness to seethe with hatred at anyone who says they resolved an issue that's plaguing you without giving any hints as to how they resolved it.

Sure you can. They have 10.8 VMs for VMWare Workstation. I'd recommend at least 8gb of RAM for smoother access though.

The EULA forbids you to run OS X on non-Apple hardware though.

"to install, use and run up to two (2) additional copies or instances of the Apple Software within virtual operating system environments on each Mac Computer you own or control that is already running the Apple Software, for purposes of: (a) software development; (b) testing during software development; (c) using OS X Server; or (d) personal, non-commercial use."

http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX1082.pdf

"They" being someone that posted an image on bittorrent? Apple doesn't license OS X for VMWare anywhere except Apple hardware. You can't even run a 10.8 guest on a 10.7 host per their license, which is really annoying.

VMWare ESXi (and Fusion too, I expect) runs legitimate installations, with no hacks required, as long as it's on Apple hardware. You need the InstallESD.img file from the OS installer.

That has questionable legality in the United States. I won't want to run it on my corporate PC.

For VMWare Fusion, not VMWare Workstation, I believe, as Workstation doesn't have an OSX version, and as others have said, their license doesn't allow for running a VM on non-Apple hardware.

I don't know OSX versions, is that a recent one?

More important, can I get the most recent versions of browsers? (Safari,Chrome,FireFox)

10.9 was just announced last week at WWDC.

It's possible to attempt using OSX on a PC through VMware, but I can attest to the fact that it works very poorly. We tried to do this at one of my jobs, and for development in Xcode, it was for all practical purposes unusable.

True. And although there is a process to convert VirtualPC images to work with other formats, which I did (on OSX), however it was a major pain in the ass. Frankly, I love the new model. MS deserves to be denigrated when they do bad, and they certainly have a mountain of web-karma to countermand, but they did good in this respect and deserve to be praised for it.

I believe the previous official images were for Virtual PC or Hyper-V only.

You can install Windows XP anywhere, but I think JunkDNA was referring specifically to the distributed VMs for testing IE, which in the past were always VHDs.

Yes, but all you had to do was rename the `exe` to a `rar` & extract the VHD. Which worked on VirtualBox. The criticism is weak.