My Two Cents on Windows on Macs

History Isn't Repeating Itself

Published on April 8, 2006 By messybuu In Macintosh

As all of you already know, Apple recently released software that allows Intel Macs to run Windows XP. It excited me, until I realized that I have no need to run it. Except for games, all the software I want is already on my Mac, and it's probably good that it doesn't have a decent selection of games anyway. Lord knows I don't have the time or money to fund such a hobby! Still, it was exciting news. It was also a bit frightening. We always hear how OS/2's tragic fall was running Windows software better than Windows itself, so developers developed exclusively for Windows, since both OSes ran the software. By Macs being able to run Windows, it'd be possible for a developer to develop exclusively for Windows with the reasoning that Mac user.s could just boot into Windows to run it.

But then I realized that such software companies would be scorned by the Mac community. People buy Macs to run Mac software, not Windows software. If Mac users wanted to buy Windows software, they could've bought a Dell for $500 years ago rather than pay at least twice that much for a Mac! I can't think of any Mac owner who would buy the Windows version of Photoshop or Office over the Mac version. Sure, Adobe, Microsoft, and others could decide not to develop for the Mac and thereby force Mac users to use Windows, but they could've done that years ago! Windows is looked upon as a necessary evil for those who'll use Boot Camp. If developers decided to give Mac users the finger by developing software for only Windows, I expect that Mac owners to give them two right back.

Of course, games might not be ported to the Mac as little as they already are because of Boot Camp, but it's not as if people ever bought Macs for games.

Although Macs running Windows is definitely news, I don't think it'll change much. Most people who haven't bought Macs still won't, and Mac users who don't need Windows aren't going to rush to Best Buy to buy XP or Vista (when it's released in 2107). The only group that I think Boot Camp will affect is the one of Mac users who are forced to have a Windows machine around the office, and in their case, it'll simply mean less sales for Dell.

Comments

Tominated

on Apr 08, 2006

I'm a windows user, but I'm gonna get a mac.

Dr Guy

on Apr 08, 2006

Your myopic view is not why Apple did it. Perhaps it is the people that support both platforms and would rather not deal with 2 boxes? Or the ones that love Mac software, but must run some windows software on occassion?

Believe it or not, the business world is Windows. And while you may want to run Macs due to their immunity from bugs, the rest of the world runs windows. If you want to play in your own pond, that is fine. If you want to interact with the rest of the world (through things other than SMTP), you have to dance their dance. No matter how right your cause, you do not have the power to dictate.

Island Dog

on Apr 09, 2006

There are many people who want to have a Mac, but are unable because they need some Windows programs for work purposes. This will help get those people to the Mac platform.

phill666

on Apr 09, 2006

Although Macs running Windows is definitely news, I don't think it'll change much.

Thats a rather narrow sighted comment to make, considering how things do change in the computer industry on a regular basis. I would likely put money on the fact that both Apple and Microsoft will move more stock because of this, I already know of a number people that are running both MacOSX and WinXP pro on the same computer.

messybuu

on Apr 09, 2006

Oh, it's definitely made an impact on their stock, but does that really mean anything? Will higher stock equal higher marketshare?
And I don't argue that there will be people who will purchase Macs because of this. I argue that it's not going to be a significant chunk of people. I expect Apple's marketshare with Macs to remain below double digits. Hopefully, I'm wrong, but that's what I expect.

DJBandit

on Apr 10, 2006

Oh, it's definitely made an impact on their stock, but does that really mean anything? Will higher stock equal higher marketshare?And I don't argue that there will be people who will purchase Macs because of this. I argue that it's not going to be a significant chunk of people. I expect Apple's marketshare with Macs to remain below double digits. Hopefully, I'm wrong, but that's what I expect.

Well, you don't work for Apple so you don't really know why they are doing this. I would make no sense to allow the use of your rival OS on your system if you didn't get something to benefit from. Apart from allowing those who might have been tempted to buy a Mac but haven't because of their need to use Windows, there are those who would rather have both OSes on the same PC and those who would like to play games from Windows while still having all the great features of Apple, so I don't understand why would you not believe this could be a big change. Sure Apple will not take 50% of Windows marketshare with this, but it's a idea in the right direction. It would take more than a mere program to compete with Windows, but you have to start somewhere.

Just imagine adding to the marketshare of Apple all those people who would like to have or try a Mac PC that haven't because they need Windows. Who knows how many people would want that, I know I would.

just john

on Apr 10, 2006

Just my two cents ... I have been running Windows on a Mac for years now through Virtual PC. It's not sexy or fast but it works.

Dr Guy

on Apr 10, 2006

Just my two cents ... I have been running Windows on a Mac for years now through Virtual PC. It's not sexy or fast but it works.

I hated when MS bought them! They actually allow you to run a bunch of OSes on a single WIntel Box too! I used them when I had to support multiple versions of WIndows (Apple has never released the BIOS code necessary for running a Mac on windows - I actually talked to the founder - before MS bought them - and that was what he told me.)

just john

on Apr 10, 2006

They actually allow you to run a bunch of OSes on a single WIntel Box too!

Now that I don't play with the mac I use it along with virtual server. It was always a hog on the Mac but I can never seem to have enough hardware to make them work well since all of my test platforms are retired servers.

KuMac420

on Apr 11, 2006

I am running Windows Xp on my Intel Imac Right now as i type this...I love it I have the option of running both OS's and They run Great.. XP runs very fast. I am very happy with the option!!!!!!!

geekinthecity

on Apr 12, 2006

Boot Camp isn't Apple's first attempt at having two platforms running in one box. In 1994 Apple introduced the Quadra 610 Dos Compatible. A separate card with a 486 processor was installed in one of the slots.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=112244

MasonM

on Apr 12, 2006

Choice is good. I dual boot Xp and Linux on my machines. I keep the Xp simply because there are a couple of applications that I need for my work that simply don't have a Linux equivalent and don't run especially well in Wine.

People can debate the relative merits of various operating systems, but it really boils down to people use what they need and what works for them. People having a choice of OS on their Mac is a good thing.

scorpNZ

on Apr 22, 2006

As Mason in the above post has said choice is good, i have xp installed and am going to install ubuntu and fedora in seperate partitions , if OS was able to be put on my pc without too much trouble i'd get that as well just to see wot the fuss is about, as for the reason Apple have decided to allow dual booting there is obviously a demand for it to be so

Jafo

on Apr 30, 2006

bot-resurrected thread can go BACK to JU.

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