“Two worlds will collide in 2006, producing the first systems capable of running both Windows and Mac OS. (Maybe.) For years, computer users have sought a hybrid. Not a half-electric, half-gasoline motor vehicle, but a computer that combines the elegance of Apple’s software design with the raw horsepower of an Intel CPU. In 2006, that dream will come true,” PC World reports by way of The Washington Post.

“When Apple announced in June 2005 that it was abandoning IBM PowerPC processors in favor of an Intel engine, the blogosphere lit up at the possibility of buying brand-name PCs loaded with Apple’s Mac OS X. That won’t happen, at least not in a form that Apple will officially sanction. Apple will probably key the final release of its Mac OS for Intel processors to a specific piece of hardware included in the new Intel-based Macs,” PC World reports. “That means that the Apple family of computers will suddenly get a much needed power boost, initially in the notebook line. Held back primarily by the IBM-based chips’ lack of cooling capability, Apple has struggled to match the chip speed of its Intel-based Windows competitors. With Intel powering its products, Apple will no longer have to cope with this issue.”

“Don’t look for Apple to start marketing Windows-loaded computers anytime soon, though. That hybrid isn’t coming. But Apple’s next revision of its OS X operating system, code-named Leopard, is likely to arrive in late 2006, which is right around the time Windows Vista hits the shelves. With both platforms running on some of the same processors, the Apple-versus-Microsoft war could heat up,” PC World reports. “Also, look for some hacked-together systems (not released by Apple) in which an Apple computer runs Windows or dual-boots both OSs. Asked about that possibility when he made the Intel announcement, Apple CEO Steve Jobs seemed resigned to it. Apple will neither sell nor support such a thing, but ‘that doesn’t preclude someone from running [Windows] on a Mac,’ he said. ‘They probably will.’”

Full article here.

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MacDailyNews Take: As we’ve asked previously, if you can buy a computer from Apple that can run both Mac OS X and Windows applications at native speeds, why would anybody buy a crippled Windows-only Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer, Sony, etc.? Once people can see Mac OS X vs. Windows latest right in front of their faces, you know what happens. Bye-bye Windows.

Steve Jobs thinks big, not small. We believe that Jobs considers Microsoft Windows’ dominance illegitimate, undeserved, and a severe hinderance to the promise of personal computers. Windows dulls creativity with its inherent medicocrity. We certainly believe that “the world’s” choice of Windows has been a huge mistake and that people are starting to wake up to that fact. Jobs is not “resigned” to the possibility of running Windows on a Mac. With the switch to Intel, he’s positioning the Mac to kill box assemblers like Dell and, eventually, Windows.

MacDailyNews Take:
With recent PowerPC announcements, why the heck did Apple decide to switch to Intel? – October 27, 2005
How Apple can win the OS war – October 19, 2005
Mac OS X Leopard to contain ‘Red Box’ for natively running Windows applications? – June 23, 2005
Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ ultimate goal: ‘to take back the computer business from Microsoft’ – June 16, 2005
Intel’s built-in virtualization tech could be one way to run Windows on Intel-based Apple Macs
Intel-based Macs running both Mac OS X and Windows will be good for Apple – June 10, 2005
Why buy a Dell when Apple ‘Macintel’ computers will run both Mac OS X and Windows? – June 08, 2005
Windows users who try Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger might not want to go back – June 07, 2005
Microsoft: The safest way to run Windows is on your Mac – October 08, 2004