Apple Releases Boot Camp
Apple has released software that allows easy dual-booting on Intel Imacs.. here’s what I think about this.
1. Games, games games. There are many people who would like to use Mac’s, especially college students, but don’t, because there aren’t all that many games ported to the Mac. Even thought the Mac has the requisite hardware, (well, almost.. Radeon X1600 ain’t that hot,but it’s ok.), gaming on the mac has traditionally been less fun than on a WinXP PC. The BootCamp software will immediately open up some segments of the market that have always been closed to Apple.
2. Business users will like this because this allows them to run various critical Windows only apps on the Mac. The problem here lies with the reboot into Windows approach. That’s a pain, and in the middle of a busy business day, having to reboot your computer five times doesn’t make that much sense. Till the Mac gets true virtualization, allowing you to run WinXP and OSX simultaneously, without a performance penalty, business users aren’t going to get all that excited. The next line of Intel processors, with Hypervisor support, and the next version of OS X are rumoured to have this, and it makes sense. When (if?) that happens, suddenly a whole bunch of SME’s might start considering the Mac as a viable business platform. Here’s an article about a Japanese bank switching to Mac..
3. For software developers, the situation is a bit more complicated, especially for the smaller development houses. Since Mac’s can now run Windows, will the porting of Windows apps to the Mac stop? Will smaller houses feel that it’s not worth the time, money, and effort porting their latest app to Mac, since “If the user wants to use App X, he can install Windows anyway”. This is a little simplistic and not necessarily true, but there’s bound to be some uncertanity amongst the smaller developers.
My personal opinion is that BootCamp is a fantastic thing for Apple. The biggest beneficiaries will be self-employed professionals, small businesses and home users. And the most interesting aspect of this is that Windows on Apple is just as prone to viruses, spyware and all the crap that kills Windows. Once people realize that their brand-spanking new windows installation died within twenty minutes of hooking it up to the internet, while OS X just keeps on humming, there’s bound to be some more appreciation of Apple’s particular brand of hassle-free computing.
Dual booting makes getting a mac for the first time practically risk free for a windows user. Getting a mac isn’t some huge commitment to OS X. This is an important thing. I know this for a fact, because when I was debating whether to buy a Powerbook or a Thinkpad, one important consideration was the vast Windows software library. And I’m relatively computer savvy. A standard user would simply not consider a Mac, because of their fear that all their hard earned computer knowledge would be wasted. And many IT departments who used to use this as a bludgeon to veto Mac purchases won’t have a leg to stand on.