Apple Computer released a beta product called Boot Camp today. This is a component of their upcoming operating system OSX 10.5 (“Leopard”) which allows the user of an Intel-based Mac to run Windows.
This is a brilliant move on Apple’s part for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that Microsoft’s next version of Windows (“Vista”) won’t be available until next year. Now, people who are looking to buy a computer this holiday season are presented with an option: they can buy a Dell or HP like everyone else, or they can buy a stylish Mac to go with their cool iPod. They’ll also have the bonus option of working with a superior operating system, OSX.
I became a UNIX-head in 1986 (SunOS 3.2 was my first exposure to it), but I learned within a few years that Windows was the way of the business desktop world (does anyone else remember WingZ or FrameMaker?). Since then, I viewed Windows as a necessary evil: I have some apps that run only on Windows, so my main computer at home– the “Big Computer” as the kids call it– is an XP machine.
Buying a dual-core Intel-based Mini last month brought OSX to the Big Computer’s screen. (Through the magic of a KVM switch.) And as of today, I have the option of running the Big Computer’s programs on my Mini.
Apple was smart enough to wait until there was a lot of buzz generated from members of the hacker community who managed to cobble together a solution to this a couple weeks ago. Today they were able to pull the Boot Camp rabbit, all ready to play, our of their hat.
Perhaps trying not to completely prove John C Dvorak’s theory that Apple will switch to a Windows-based platform, Apple says that through Boot Camp they will provide the means to dual-boot your Mac to OSX or Windows, but they won’t actually support Windows. Fair enough.
And now that Apple has given its hardware the capability of running Windows, it’s in Microsoft’s (and their business partners’– hello, Dell) best interest to make sure it runs well, lest they lose customer after customer with calls to Apple Tech Support that finish with the recommendation “Well, boot into OSX and let’s see if the problem goes away.”
Of course, there are limitations: your Mac environment may not be able to write files to your XP space unless you set it up correctly, and your XP space won’t be able to access your Mac files at all. I think it’s only a matter of time before this problem gets resolved, though. And on a related path, it seems there’s an announcement expected later this week from a company which is planning on releasing a new virtualization product for OSX, allowing you to run Windows within OSX. Microsoft’s Virtual PC does this today, albeit only on PowerPC Macs and not rather well.
While I may be too hopeful that this will start to chip away at Windows’ stranglehold on the desktop, I’m always glad to see competition. I’ve known way too many corporate IT managers who have burned out with constantly patching and repatching an operating system that was never meant to scale in the first place. Maybe this is the beginning of a trend.