Not only do the 2006 Macs come with Intel processors, now they
can also officially run Windows thanks to Apple's announcement of
Boot Camp, a utility used to install Windows XP on the new Intel
Macs.
As I suggested previously, this can only help both Apple and
Microsoft - but at the same time many people are stunned now that
the only difference between a Macintosh and a conventional PC is
the logo on the front and the added capability of the Mac to run
OS X.
DOS Cards
Many also forget that the Mac has a long history of being able to
run other operating systems, whether it be Linux, MS-DOS, or
Windows. Some of the 68040-based Macs were available with DOS cards
installed, which was basically a PC on a card that fit in the Mac's
PDS slot. The Quadra 610 and
630 were the most notable for
this option. (Before Apple got into the DOS card business, AST made
x86 cards for the Mac SE and
Mac II way back in 1987.)
Some of the early Power Macs, such as the 6100, also had the capability, but
unfortunately in all of these models having a DOS card present
eliminated the possibility for any other cards, because the
machine's sole slot was occupied by the DOS card.
Later on with the PCI Power Macs, the 7300 offered the option a PC card, and cards
similar to the one available for this machine could be purchased
from Orange PC to function with nearly every PCI Power Mac up to
and including beige G3s.
However, Mac OS 8.5 (released in 1998) broke support for these
cards, so those using them were forced to stick with OS 8.1.
Software Emulators
Software had been written to allow the Mac's CPU to emulate an
Intel processor so that applications meant for conventional x86 PCs
could run in a window on the Mac. One of the popular early ones was
SoftWindows, and SoftPC was another.
SoftWindows allowed Windows 3.1 (and later 95) to run on a Power
Mac, such as the 6100/60. SoftPC let users install their own
operating system, and there was even a version that run on a lowly
Mac Plus.
When Connectix' Virtual PC was released, it pretty much took
over the SoftWindows market. Virtual PC acts like a regular PC -
built right into a Mac - and can run Windows, Windows software, and
other x86 operating systems. Furthermore, you could simply drag and
drop files from the PC desktop to the Mac desktop, making
integration seamless.
The best part, however, was that OS upgrades would not take away
the functionality - if a particular version of Virtual PC didn't
work with OS 9, for example, there would be an upgrade
available.
Virtual PC
Virtual PC worked fairly well until Windows 2000 came out.
Windows 95 and 98 had relatively low system requirements, and most
Macs of that era could handle running them in emulation fairly
well. Later versions of Virtual PC, combined with Mac OS X and
newer versions of Windows, slowed things down considerably. I have
serious doubts that Windows Vista will work at any reasonable speed
using software emulation on PowerPC Macs, and if Microsoft does
decide to make Virtual PC for Intel Macs, it would most likely be
exclusively bundled for that version.
I would love to see a "Fast OS Switching" option built into OS X
10.5 that would allow Windows (or any other OS) to be running "in
the background" instead of forcing the user to reboot to switch
operating systems. If Apple were able to pull that off, I'm sure
they'd not only get a lot more switchers, but many Mac users would
buy copies of 10.5 who might not have otherwise bothered to
upgrade.
This might cut into Microsoft's Virtual PC market. On the other
hand, Apple has recently begun to stand up to Microsoft with
Safari, Pages, and Keynote. That said, Microsoft would probably be
delighted to see such integration - if Microsoft can sell a few
more copies of Windows to Mac users, I'm sure it wouldn't
complain.
Regardless, the Mac has had a history of being very flexible
when it comes to running alternate operating systems, and with the
Intel transition and Apple's attitude for installing Windows on the
Mac, now is a better time than ever if you plan on running it - or
any other OS - on your Mac.
