April 5th, 2006
Apple Releases Boot Camp for Intel Macs
By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Guess what? Apple just released software to let the Intel based Macs run Windows. Michael had already posted about the homebrew contest where they tried to do it, well, this patch will be free and on a trial basis, the final version will included in the Leopard release of Mac OS X.
Apple today introduced Boot Camp, public beta software that enables Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP. Available as a download beginning today, Boot Camp allows users with a Microsoft Windows XP installation disc to install Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac, and once installation is complete, users can restart their computer to run either Mac OS X or Windows XP. Boot Camp will be a feature in “Leopard,” Apple’s next major release of Mac OS X, that will be previewed at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in August.
“Apple has no desire or plan to sell or support Windows, but many customers have expressed their interest to run Windows on Apple’s superior hardware now that we use Intel processors,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “We think Boot Camp makes the Mac even more appealing to Windows users considering making the switch.”
Boot Camp simplifies Windows installation on an Intel-based Mac by providing a simple graphical step-by-step assistant application to dynamically create a second partition on the hard drive for Windows, to burn a CD with all the necessary Windows drivers, and to install Windows from a Windows XP installation CD. After installation is complete, users can choose to run either Mac OS X or Windows when they restart their computer. Source: Apple.com.
We Say: I figured they would eventually release software to do this themselves, they HAD to know people would work on it until it worked well enough to actually run Windows on a Mac. System requirements, Intel-based Mac with a USB keyboard and mouse, or a built-in keyboard and TrackPad; Mac OS X version 10.4.6 or later; the latest firmware update; at least 10GB of free space on the startup disk; a blank recordable CD or DVD; and single-disc version of Windows XP Home Edition or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later.
Tim says:
What is the point of running Windows on an Apple? It just means the Apple is nothing more than another PC manufacturer. When will Steve Jobs learn that the money is in software not hardware. Even Michael Dell stated if Apple marketed its OS for PC’s, he would install it in place of Windows.
April 5th, 2006 at 8:44 am
blattidotnet says:
Here’s the point. User #1 is die-hard Apple. User #2 likes Apple, but purchases PC because of the cost or application availability or job requirement or insert reason here. User #3 is die-hard PC. For user 1 and 3, this means nothing. For user #2 it is important.
Now user #2 is more likely to buy Apple. You can use OSX (because it’s cool) and XP (because you need to). It’s like the computer version of a mullet. Business up front, party in the rear.
April 5th, 2006 at 9:16 am
David Johnston says:
I wonder if this means they’ll be providing drivers. That would be nice. I know a lot of people where I work are really looking forward to a machine that can dual-boot Windows and OS X. Now, if only Mac’s laptops came with two-buttons on their touchpads
April 5th, 2006 at 10:09 am
blattidotnet says:
From the Apple page….”Boot Camp will burn a CD of all the required drivers for Windows so you don’t have to scrounge around the Internet looking for them.”
April 5th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Charles says:
It just never stops with the Apple folks…
“but many customers have expressed their interest to run Windows on Apple’s superior hardware now that we use Intel processors,” said Philip Schiller”
Oh, so NOW Apple has superior hardware since it runs Intel processors like regular ol’ PCs. Riiiiiight.
A computer mullet! I like it! Just might entertain the idea of buying a Mac now. But if OSX is ever ported to PC hardware, Apple hardware sales will drop big time.
April 5th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Tim says:
The real problem will be Mac programmers at third party companies such as game publishers who will have their jobs phased out because it will be more cost effective to design a Windows-only application then spend time and money making OSX based programs. The hardware in the Intel based Macs is the same processor design used in PCs, only packaging is different. Jobs is making the same mistake that he did when he stopped the Apple clone makers in the 90’s, he isn’t expanding the market share of Apple but he is expanding the market share of Microsoft. Steve Jobs will end up turning OSX into OS/2 Warp.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:35 am
John Tidball says:
I agree with commenter Nr. 1…. I would love to be able to run
the latest Mac OS on my PC. I think it is a superior OS to Windows.
Sooner or later.
April 6th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
John Tidball says:
I agree with commenter Nr. 1…. I would love to be able to run
the latest Mac OS on my PC. I think it is a superior OS to Windows.
Sooner or later.
April 6th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
» First Look XP Dual Booting on a Mac » Blog Archive Alice Hill’s Real Tech News - Independent Tech says:
[…] PCWorld has released an article on the boot camp patch we posted about yesterday, saying that it works impressively well, including the video drivers, and video games work great as well, saying Doom 3 and Far Cry ran smoothly with the high end graphics options turned on. In both cases, I had to tweak visual settings manually, since the games automatically set themselves to very low settings. Far Cry, for example, auto detected very low settings, but it ran without a hitch when I bumped the resolution up to 1280 by 720, with all visual quality options set to “High.” […]
December 30th, 2006 at 12:38 am