I am still shocked. If I didn’t know better, I’d have to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April 1st. Apple has released a new beta product, “Boot Camp”, that will allow you to easily install Microsoft Windows XP on Intel-based Macs. It has a drivers CD for Windows XP, plus the partitioning software, and you basically run the CD, partition your Mac, install Windows XP, and then select which OS you want (normally it will default to one, but you can hold down a key right when it boots to select). This software is going to be a part of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
This is huge. If you know somebody that is thinking about switching to Macs, but they still have some Windows software they want to run (perhaps an older or proprietary application or some games or whatever), this is a huge incentive to switch, as they can get all of the benefits of using a Mac, while still having a “safety net” if you will. No more “I’d switch, but I have these two applications that I still need to use occasionally”.
The drivers for Windows XP include:
* Graphics
* Networking
* Audio
* AirPort wireless
* Bluetooth
* The Eject key (on Apple keyboards)
* Brightness control for built-in displays
Full Details – www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp
Note: If you format the Windows partition FAT32 – you can read and write to it under Mac OS X. If you format it NTFS (if your partition is of a certain size, 32GB or larger, you may need NTFS), you can only read it under Mac OS X. Basically you’ll be able to access your data on your Windows drive while running Mac OS X, which could really help with the switching process.
Note: For discussion/response, please refer to this thread in the forums.