Is there a Mac in your future?

Posted by Vic Laurie
July 12, 2006

The fallout from the switch by Apple to Intel chips continues. Because the change to Intel architecture opens the door to running Windows-type code, various ways of running Windows applications or the Windows OS itself on Mac machines have appeared. Because of the potential market, there may be more to come. At this time, there are at least three paths that allow you to run Windows on a Mac.

Apple itself has provided a dual-boot package called Boot Camp. At present it is a free beta product and you have to download it. However, the next version of the Mac operating system, slated for a fall debut, is supposed to have the finished product as part of the OS. You have to provide your own copy of Windows XP and a reboot is required to switch between operating systems. The reviews I’ve seen seem favorable.

Having to reboot is a nuisance, and another product from Parallels allows the two systems to run together. Parallels Desktop is a “virtualization” utility that enables the Windows operating system and Windows applications to run in Mac OS X, within another window (or, alternately, in full screen mode).

Then there is the way to run Windows programs on a Mac without installing Windows. In an article, Run Windows Apps Without Windows, PC World discusses CrossOver Mac

Although Boot Camp is free and Parallels Desktop is reasonably priced, both software applications require an expensive copy of Windows in order to work–and that’s the biggest benefit for CrossOver Mac. It works without having Windows installed altogether, thanks to the underlying code that powers the software.

If Microsoft keeps pushing things like the misnamed “Windows Genuine Advantage” that give them a lot of control over your computer, Macs are going to look better and better.

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