Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple
Apple to PC Manufacturers and Windows: It's on!
OMG I cannot stop giggling with glee over Scott's Boot Camp post. Apple has just thrown
down a pretty major gauntlet to all the current PC manufacturers. I mean, now, thousands of cubicle workers around the
globe can say, "Yes, I can run Windows on my MacBook Pro. I won't be needing that Dell machine you ordered for
me to run the one bit of proprietary Windows-based software that has shackled our company to an expensive spyware and
virus-riddled platform for far too long."If it works nicely, that means in the short term that Dell is in big trouble, as are all other PC manufacturers. It also means that Windows may be making some more money starting out, as a decent number of Apple users *may* go out and buy a copy to install on their Macs. However, over time, if Apple plays its cards right and doesn't screw things up, people will see that booting into OS X runs more smoothly and is nicer than booting into Windows, and we may see more switchers than ever before.
Of course, the real key to this would be if Apple would just go ahead and release a version of OS X for PCs. I think with Boot Camp, Apple just threw down the gauntlet and within a year, they'll take the fight to the desktop PC. I cannot wait.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
mungler said 9:46AM on 4-05-2006
Coolest. Thing. Ever.
(Well, this week anyway). I'm still reeling, but the implications are trickling through. Michael Dell is screaming, non-stop, right now.
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Holger Blaschka said 9:48AM on 4-05-2006
My bet: This is just the first step. Apple will offer a "migration tool" with the next OS X Release which will enable to migrate that dual-boot-Windows-Installation to a Virtual Machine, that will run inside OS X.
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andy said 9:48AM on 4-05-2006
porting osx to all pcs though i would imagine could be tough - a lot of drivers etc needed, - hope this all plays out the way apple wants it to and doessnt backfire :S
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Nick Zee said 9:49AM on 4-05-2006
Stop being a tool and saying this will steal users from Dell which is an industry standard. Whats your selling point for a business owner to buy mac : "It costs $1000 and runs Windows too". This just sounds stupid. I long for those shady PPC days. Now Apple has to lower prices because pc users see to much of a price gap.
If Apple is a mercedes and Dell is a toyota. How much better is the mercedes that runs on a toyota engine and the Toyota gives you more ram. Whatever iMac 17" is the only viable hardware Apple can sell. The rest is overpriced and self centered attention whore material.
Bring on the iPods because the PC divisions is simply becoming ornamental. The software will be licensed eventually...
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LD said 9:51AM on 4-05-2006
Virtualization would be cooler.
Rebooting for "that one app" doesn't work in a business environment.
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mungler said 9:56AM on 4-05-2006
virtualization is bound to come with Leopard, i would (almost!) put money on it.
#4, you are a fool.
thanks kids, goodnight!
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Paul Cutting said 9:56AM on 4-05-2006
excellent...now only if i had a desire or a need to run xp...
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Muncher said 10:02AM on 4-05-2006
This will help people on the fence about buying a Mac or pc. They might say "I really want to try a Mac but I scared about switching." Now if they buy the Mac and don't like OS X they can still use windows on it and have a stylin' computer.
Win-Win for Apple...this will get many people to buy Apple hardware and people will see the light!
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Alex Crouzen said 10:04AM on 4-05-2006
I'm still waiting for the 3D performance of the different models. I'm in it for the games (my profession) and I long to be able to bood into XP to play the games I can't play under OSX.
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LD said 10:06AM on 4-05-2006
Ok, I've read most of the documentation. I have one burning question. Did Apple give us a Windows HFS+ driver? It says if you format XP with NTFS that OS X can read but not write. We know this, but they make a point to state such.
They also mention that you must authorize the computer to play iTunes, also as we would expect. But how would you play your iTunes purchases if they were all on your OS X partition? Can XP now read HFS+?
No bluetooth support is a huge bummer too.
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Thomas said 10:07AM on 4-05-2006
Wow, and I have an Intel iMac, but no desire to install Windows. Should I be cool and try it? Or should I be smart and keep my Mac Windows free? ;)
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dave said 10:08AM on 4-05-2006
Cool, now where is the new hardware to go with Boot Camp? :)
Power Mac updates, anyone?
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Thomas said 10:11AM on 4-05-2006
I think if apple are smart this could be a very good move. I think they have to be very slow and methodical about this.
They don't need to compete with Windows at all. They're up against the hardware manufacturers at this stage.
Let's say they do steal customers from the likes of Dell, let's say that all those customers continue to use Windows and ignore OS X entirely for the time being. Fine. They make great money on the hardware.
If they get to a point where they're on a levelish footing with Dell - they win. Dell are shackled to Microsoft, they can't move beyond what windows allows them to do. Apple control everything, they make money on hardware and the software - Dell et al don't. If they get the hardware market they can then work on the software users and that's it - game over.
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Jacob Varghese said 10:15AM on 4-05-2006
C.K.,
I don't think Apple would want to release a PC version of OS X anytime soon. Too much money is at stake. Maybe in another 5 years as market share increases for the MAC OS.
I'm pretty excited about Boot Camp.
I can justify purchasing a MAC now at work.
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Mark Imbriaco said 10:17AM on 4-05-2006
My #1 question: Can I boot XP off of a Firewire drive with this? If I can, then I'm excited by the possibilities. I have the need to run Windows occasionally, but not enough that I want to give up some of my precious 100GB MBP drive for it.
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Kevin said 10:25AM on 4-05-2006
Is Apple going to bundle virus protection software and spyware protection software with this thing? And if not, will the plethora of viruses and spyware the Windows OS attracts affect the Mac OS performance when you reboot?
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tehmaz said 10:28AM on 4-05-2006
Looking forward to running HalfLife2 full res.+details on my MacBook at the next lanparty.
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Jacob Varghese said 10:31AM on 4-05-2006
Can you access network drives
from Windows servers on a Mac?
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Pete said 10:32AM on 4-05-2006
To #4, I don't think that the comparison of Dell to Toyota is a good one. Toyota actually makes a good product, whereas Dell makes some of the most poorly designed hunks of plastic on the face of the earth. If *only* Dell was as consistent as Toyota!
I think that Boot Camp addresses an important concern for many would-be switchers, namely "there is one PC app that I really want to run". Boot Camp solves that problem, and allows any commitment-phobic Windows user the option of running back to their familiar, albeit flawed, OS.
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Rob said 10:34AM on 4-05-2006
Wow. This is the kind of announcement that one would think deserves the "Oh, and one more thing..." treatment by Steve.
Wonder how the Vista development team over at M$ is feeling today.
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