“Apple Computer said on Wednesday that it has released a public beta version of Boot Camp, software that enables Microsoft Windows XP to run natively on Intel-based Macs,” Candace Lombardi reports for CNET News. “‘This solves a lot of potential holdups to Macintosh adoption,’ JupiterResearch analyst Michael Gartenberg wrote in a blog posting Wednesday. ‘Overall, (this is) a nice tactical move by Apple that will make their platforms and systems much more attractive.’”

“Paul Jackson, an analyst at Forrester Research, predicts that home users previously daunted by a fear of incompatibly with their work PC and a strong desire to hold on to Windows-based programs may now make the jump to Macs,” Lombardi reports. “Apple’s move is great for Microsoft, Jackson said, since it will mean extra sales of XP, but it’s bad news for PC makers that previously didn’t have to worry about competing for market share with Apple. ‘Apple machines are excellently manufactured, and the performance is far superior,’ Jackson told CNET News.com. ‘But companies like Dell and HP never really had to worry about competing with Apple in the hardware market. Now you can go in, look at those gorgeous Mac Minis and MacBook (Pros) and view them as a normal PC. You can run XP and never touch OS X, if you don’t want to.’”

“‘In short, we believe this news, more than any news in recent memory, provides a critical boost to Apple’s ability to gain share in the PC market,’ a JPMorgan Chase analyst report said,” Lombardi reports. “Deutche Bank issued a ‘buy’ for Apple Computer stock on a prediction of share gains.”

Full article here.

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