Is Apple Finally Getting It?

Just a day after I criticized Apple for failing to do anything to ease the use of Windows software on its machines, the company decides to announce a new tool which takes a step towards just that. Is Steve Jobs finally amending his bad old ways in his old age?

More and more people are buying and loving Macs. To make this choice simply irresistible, Apple will include technology in the next major release of Mac OS X, Leopard, that lets you install and run the Windows XP operating system on your Mac. Called Boot Camp (for now), you can download a public beta today.

As elegant as it gets

Boot Camp lets you install Windows XP without moving your Mac data, though you will need to bring your own copy to the table, as Apple Computer does not sell or support Microsoft Windows.(1) Boot Camp will burn a CD of all the required drivers for Windows so you don't have to scrounge around the Internet looking for them.

Run XP natively

Once you’ve completed Boot Camp, simply hold down the option key at startup to choose between Mac OS X and Windows. (That’s the “alt” key for you longtime Windows users.) After starting up, your Mac runs Windows completely natively. Simply restart to come back to Mac.

This is nice and all (certainly a lot better than leaving it to amateur hackers to figure out), but an even better step to take would be team up with VMWare by, say, bundling VMWare Server with the successor to OS X 10.5; further down the line, Apple could work with Xen* to use Intel's Vanderpool extensions to incorporate hypervisor technology directly into the operating system for even better performance. Apple users have nothing to lose by such initiatives, and access to an entire universe of applications to gain.

*_{Assuming the GPL doesn't get in the way, of course ...}

Comments

[charlesmayhew]

APPL has jumped over 7% on the news. I'm looking forward to all the spyware and viruses.

[charlesmayhew]

People where surprised to learn (when apple switched to intel) that there had been an intel version all along, since the first version of OS X. They weren't necessarily planning to switch to intel, but having the choice is good. Red box has probably also been under parallel development since Jobs returned.

[Darren]

Actually, I seem to recall the initial plan (back when OS X was first created) was to allow it to run on both PPC and x86. The problematic logistics of this, coupled to a lack of suitably fast processors to run an emulation layer like Rosetta, meant that the plan was shelved and the company stuck to PPC.

Keep in mind too that this isn't the mythical Red Box, instead it's just a dual-booting solution virtually identical to the one created by a pair of hackers recently, albeit with an easier install process and the correct drivers. Still, it's a good move by Apple.

Incidentally, for anybody looking for a "Red Box" style approach, keep an eye on Darwine. It's a long way from being stable and truly usable, but the group seems to be making progress.

[marko]

Windows (and x86 Linux etc) within OS X is here now - http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/mac/

The Virtual machines possible are:
Windows 2003 Standard Edition SP0
Windows 2003 Standard Edition SP1
Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition SP0
Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition SP1
Windows 2003 Web Edition SP0
Windows 2003 Web Edition SP1
Windows XP SP2 Professional
Windows XP SP2 Home
Windows XP SP1 Professional
Windows XP SP1 Home
Windows XP SP0 Professional
Windows XP SP0 Home
Windows 2000 Professional Edition SP4
Windows 2000 Server SP4
Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP6
Windows NT Server 4.0 SP6
Windows ME
Windows 98
Windows 95
Windows 3.11
Windows 3.1
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS4
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS4
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS3
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES4
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES3
Red Hat Linux 9
Red Hat Linux 8
Red Hat Linux 7.3
Debian Linux 3.1
Fedora Core Linux 4
Fedora Core Linux 3
SUSE Linux 10
SUSE Linux 9.3
SUSE Linux 9.2
SUSE Linux 9.1
SUSE Linux 9.0
Mandriva Linux 10.1
Mandriva Linux 10
Mandriva Linux 9.2
FreeBSD 5.4
FreeBSD 5.3
FreeBSD 4.5
FreeBSD 4.1

I think that's enough to be getting on with.