April 5, 2006
Apple lets Microsoft onto the Mac
In what I would see as a rather strange move for Apple, they’ve released software called “Boot Camp” which allows you to run Windows on one of their new intel-based Macs. Before the release of these processors it was expected that Windows would eventually be running on intel-based Macs (through some clever hackery and geniousness) but there was never any indication that Apple would support such a possibility. From Apple’s support website:
The Boot Camp Assistant Beta creates a partition just for Windows XP without erasing your existing Mac OS X information. Boot Camp Assistant Beta also burns a CD with drivers for Windows XP so you can use your Mac’s built-in graphics, USB, audio, Bluetooth, Ethernet, AirPort, and more. The drivers are automatically installed when you insert the disc into your Macintosh after you install Windows XP.
Wow. That’s all I can say. Mac users rejoice! The intel-based Mac is now capable of running the “big 3″ in operating systems: Mac OS, Windows XP, and Linux. With Apple supplying the hardware as well as the software for their computers it was easy enough for them to release drivers and support for a very specific version of Windows (it only supports an install with Service Pack 2 integrated) but I’m still not sure it was a good business idea.
Apple regularly releases updates to its operating system which come at a significant price. Microsoft, on the other hand, releases updates for free through their Windows Update website. If Windows Update works on a Mac install of Windows XP, it will hurt Apple’s profitability in the OS market if users start seeing that using Windows is a better option than keeping MacOS up to date. While Apple is still selling the hardware, they’re in control of any future moves, and I can’t imagine anyone would intentionally buy a Mac to run Windows, they’re more expensive than non-Mac PCs.
How will Microsoft react? Who knows. This doesn’t hurt them in any way that I can see, except that it improves adoption of Apple computers which natively run an operating system that *isn’t* theirs. A counter-release of software that allows MacOS to be installed on non-Apple computers would be interesting, though I would think this would be more on Apple’s end, and I can tell you with almost certainty that they wouldn’t support this move.
I think this day will prove to be an interesting one. Apple’s stock was up 5% when I started writing this article, it’s now up 6%. Microsoft? Well so far it looks like no one really cares about them.
Update: Here’s a link to the Boot Camp software. It was unavailable earlier but it seems to be working now.
