In deference to my in-laws, most of whom have a fairly low tolerance for technology (with one notable exception), I don’t make too many computer-related posts on this blog. But Apple did something today that stands to change the way people buy and use personal computers, and that’s big news.
Starting today, you can officially (as in, Apple sanctions and supports your activity) run OS X and Microsoft Windows XP on your Intel-based Macintosh computer. This kind of functionality has existed on the Mac for a long time, but it’s come through virtualization (basically, in software rather than in hardware), which means the Windows applications would run slowly and weren’t always able to use the Mac’s video drivers and other interfaces. No more. Now that the guts of the Mac are the same as the guts of a Dell, Windows can run on an iMac just as it does on a Dimension desktop.
In typical Apple fashion, their marketing copy is as snarky as ever:
Macs use an ultra-modern industry standard technology called EFI to handle booting. Sadly, Windows XP, and even the upcoming Vista, are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS. But with Boot Camp, the Mac can operate smoothly in both centuries.
Windows running on a Mac is like Windows running on a PC. That means it’ll be subject to the same attacks that plague the Windows world.
As big as this news is now, it’s going to get even bigger when Apple announces its pro desktop models using the Intel processor. Let the benchmarking begin….
(And now back to your regularly-scheduled programming.)