My nerd curiosity must be satisfied, so I’m about to run Apple’s new Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows on my Intel iMac. I’ll let you know what I discover (I’m sure every other Mac site in the universe will also.)
What do you think of this interesting new develpment from Apple?
I think this is wonderful news. I personally probably won’t be using it (at least in the near fugure), but having a single machine that boots both major operating systems is a huge market boon, and further deflates any arguments against buying Macs.
I think this is marketing genius. A relatively simple software effort could lead to a much greater migration to the mac. For those who need to run windows software or are afraid of making the transition this provides a relatively painless way to try the mac and still get windows if they need it. Brilliant.
I’d prefer to have virtualisation, which I suspect is coming in Leopard, as well as this.
For those who are afraid that this will lead to the end of Mac OS X: think again. People won’t be afraid to buy Macs (it can do Windows too!) but will not use it often if at all in real life. Some applications do require Windows. Well, it can now be done on a Mac as well.
Maybe, just maybe, some small software developers will find in this an extra argument not to port their applications to the Mac platform. But they probably would not have done so anyway. Will Adobe stop making Mac software? I doubt it. Although being able to run Windows on a Mac means a theoretical risk
for Mac OS X to disappear, I am convinced that in reality people will like Mac OS X better.
My vote: positive.
I think it’s a very smart decision. People were going to run Windows on their Macs anyway, so I’m guessing that Apple figured it might as well be on their terms. By releasing Boot Camp, Apple manages to maintain a degree of control over the process.
I’m curious to see how Boot Camp will integrate with Leopard. Steve Jobs’ keynote at WWDC should be very interesting this year.
Fast Platform Switching (like F.U.S.)
I think that this is good in the sense that it’ll make people realize OS X is better than XP, but I absolutely hate the fact that people are willing to do this.
You buy a Mac for the Mac experience. You buy a Mac because you like the design, you like the OS, and you think it’s a much better experience than Windows. Don’t go and tarnish that experience by installing XP.
This is a smart move all around. For Brad: as a way to test site design this is a godsend. I want to create on a Mac, but make sure that sites I make & maintain render properly on all platforms. Virtual PC is a dog.
OTOH, virtualization protects your machine from getting hosed by windows spyware, viruses, etc.
As a consumer, it also means I can get audiobooks from the library which are in MS formats, though they will need to be hacked to play on my iPods. (fair use if I delete after listening).
It’s a good short-term stop-gap solution until a virtualization solution appears.
I am actually more interested in running OS X and Solaris side by side in VMs than in Windows.
Apple is a hardware company, of course they are happy to see people buying Macs, even if it is only to have the coolest Windows laptop available…
I think that one of the most important aspects of an announcement like this is that is should silence those people that wanted Apple to open Mac OS X to other platforms. Instead of opening it’s software to other hardware platforms Apple has opened it’s hardware to other software platforms.
I can only wonder how this will be implemented in Leopard. I hope that Apple will allow for virtualization instead of having the users reboot their machines.
This is a marketing manuever, pure and simple, and as it builds the groundswell for Leopard, it’s pretty savvy. People won’t flee OS X because Macs run Windows — hello, they left Windows because it sucked! Remember? And rebooting to load another OS to run a program is (say it with me) “S L O W”. What will the end effect of this be? It’ll handhold some folks and show them how lame Windows really is in contrast to OS X. In other words — this is hardly news. Bore me later!
Hmm, I have to say this IS handy for those of us who live in a windows world. I have both a PC and a 17″ Powerbook right now. I’ve been dreaming of integrating onto one platform for a while now, and finally found a way to do so. I HAVE to run windows for several applications, such as AutoCAD, as well as doing desktop support for windows users. However, I don’t use Windows regularly other than that, except for games. This finally lets me use ONE system for all of my computer use.
SO, even for older mac users, it’s handy (and I was a switcher in 2000, btw). It’s a professional matter for me – and virtual PC does NOT cut it when doing memory intensive, CPU intensive tasks (AutoCAD people, is not a small application).
For the health of your system I believe it´s better not install both OS. If someone needs use windows I think Virtual PC or programs like this are sufficient. I have and old Pentium III and I continue using it, the trash I have to remove each day is huge. You may think is handy to have the two OS but your Hard disk will fill very soon of trash, virus, trojans, well you know all of this, I think if someone has money to buy a Mac ( they are expensive, the best but expensive) it has money too for buy a basic Pc if need it.
Maybe for AutoCAD, due to Mac hardware are much more powerful (the new models at least) than a PC, but prepare a good program to eliminate the trash.
I think it´s curious due to novelty but no much people will install two, with Mac OS X the most of people cover their needs.
I think this is a brilliant idea, because the Mac hardware is very good, so people that are afraid of a Mac can buy the hardware and I’m sure they are switching to Mac OS X VERY soon.
My personal interest in this is dumping my Windows machine that I’m using for a race once a month.
I’m absolutely thrilled about this. It makes it easier for more people to switch to Mac and get acquinted with OS X, most of which I’m confident will love OS X better than XP and tend to stick to it. Plus, it makes it cheaper for a lot of creative companies to support multiple OS’s, and the best part of that is that they’ll have to buy Apple hardware, not a Dell or HP box.
Is this the beginning of the end, with OS X being dropped by Apple in favor of Windows? I doubt it. X vs. XP already shows in a very objective way that OS X is simply a better Operating System in many ways (and that’s even excluding iLife, which is completely unparalleled on Windows, imo). Additionally, it has been OS X that kept winning awards over the past 3-4 years, now Windows XP.
Why drop an OS that is proven to be more reliable, more secure, more stable, more user-friendly, more usable and powerful, in favor of something that is in many ways inferior?
Apple may be a hardware company as far as their income goes (40%), but their userbase doesn’t support them in such loyal manners because of the hardware. A lickable case is great, but that’s not what gets your work done. It’s (mostly) the software that makes people love Macs, and this — to me — seems like an attempt to get OS X be a much more widespread and popular OS than it is now.