April 7th, 2006
Not Windows on Mac, Windows IN Mac OS X
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
The big news this week was Boot Camp, which Jimmy previously wrote about. It’s Apple beta software that allows you to run Windows XP on your Intel-based Mac. Course, you’ll have to dual-boot, and there’s been discussion opening up the Mac to the security issues of Windows. Herdon, Va.-based Parallels has announced n a beta test of its Workstation product for Intel-based Macs; using virtualization technology it would allow users to run Windows, but also Linux, FreeBSD, OS/2 or just about any other operating system within the Mac OS.
Parallels said its support of Intel’s virtualization technology would result in almost native performance of the operating system, while not interfering with other virtual machines that may be running.
Each virtual machine would act like a separate computer, the company said, with its own virtual hardware, including RAM, hard disk, processor, I/O ports, and CD/DVD-drives. Source: BetaNews
We Say: My personal experience with other virtualization software has not been all that favorable … at least performance-wise. However, since previous virtualization software on the Mac has run under emulation (resulting in much slower performance), if Parallels has actually succeeded in getting the OS to run natively, that’s the real story, and it would greatly improve performance. Additionally, this should reduce the previously mentioned concern over viruses as well, as you can wipe the whole session when you’re done.
David Johnston says:
I think the real story behind this is Intel’s virtualization technology which is built into its Core-based chips. The processors are designed to run multiple OS’s simultaneously, so this virtualization/emulation/whatever you want to call it should be a lot faster than previously before.
April 7th, 2006 at 10:02 am
Paul Koan says:
Winning over the gaming community would be a big win, but I have yet to hear of a virtualisation app that allows DirectX access to the real graphics and sound hardware.
But if it did.. I for one would consider binning Windows. You could put together a Windows VM optimised for running games only, and have near native speeds.
April 7th, 2006 at 4:44 pm