Apple today introduced Boot Camp, public beta software that enables Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP. Available as a download beginning today, Boot Camp allows users with a Microsoft Windows XP installation disc to install Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac, and once installation is complete, users can restart their computer to run either Mac OS X or Windows XP. Boot Camp will be a feature in “Leopard,” Apple’s next major release of Mac OS X, that will be previewed at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in August.
“Apple has no desire or plan to sell or support Windows, but many customers have expressed their interest to run Windows on Apple’s superior hardware now that we use Intel processors,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, in the press release. “We think Boot Camp makes the Mac even more appealing to Windows users considering making the switch.”
Boot Camp simplifies Windows installation on an Intel-based Mac by providing a simple graphical step-by-step assistant application to dynamically create a second partition on the hard drive for Windows, to burn a CD with all the necessary Windows drivers, and to install Windows from a Windows XP installation CD. After installation is complete, users can choose to run either Mac OS X or Windows when they restart their computer.
Funny Apple notes on the Boot Camp web page include:
EFI and BIOS – Macs use an ultra-modern industry standard technology called EFI to handle booting. Sadly, Windows XP, and even the upcoming Vista, are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS. But with Boot Camp, the Mac can operate smoothly in both centuries.
Word to the Wise – Windows running on a Mac is like Windows running on a PC. That means it’ll be subject to the same attacks that plague the Windows world. So be sure to keep it updated with the latest Microsoft Windows security fixes.
The public beta of Boot Camp is available immediately as a download, and is preview software licensed for use on a trial basis for a limited time. The final version of Boot Camp will be available as a feature in the upcoming Mac OS X version 10.5 “Leopard.” Apple does not provide support for installing or running Boot Camp and does not sell or support Microsoft Windows software. Apple welcomes user feedback on Boot Camp at:
Boot Camp requires an Intel-based Mac with a USB keyboard and mouse, or a built-in keyboard and TrackPad; Mac OS X version 10.4.6 or later; the latest firmware update; at least 10GB of free space on the startup disk; a blank recordable CD or DVD; and single-disc version of Windows XP Home Edition or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later.
More info about Apple’s Boot Camp public beta and download link here.
MacDailyNews Take: Welcome to “Embrace and extinguish,” Apple-style. The war ain’t over, folks. It never was. Now, a new chapter begins and today’s shot will be heard around the world! Don’t you just love the smell of napalm in the morning?
This doesn’t hurt Microsoft (yet), but it absolutely puts Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba, etc. into a world of pain.
Why buy a Dell when Apple’s Intel-based Macs will run both Mac OS X and Windows? As we wrote way back on June 8, 2005: Oh, so one could buy a Mac and run both Windows and Mac OS X or buy a Dell and only be able to run Windows. Muahahahahah! So, can anyone explain why would anyone in their right mind would buy a Dell or any other Wintel box assembler’s kit again? This is shaping up to become a “license Mac OS X or die” problem for the Dells of the world. But, what if Steve Jobs doesn’t feel like licensing Mac OS X? Checkmate. Is it too early to suggest that Michael Dell shut down the company and give the money back to shareholders?
Wait until Wall Street figures this one out.
As we wrote in a MacDailyNews Take on May 9, 2005:“The war isn’t over until there’s a surrender. Apple’s still here and the Mac platform is growing and advancing, not shrinking and retreating. As long as Apple makes Macs, as Yogi said, ‘It ain’t over ’til it’s over.’ PCs are turned over every few years; all it would take is for the average user to choose a Mac for their next computer and things would quickly change drastically. With Windows in disarray and Longhorn looking more like Stillborn, right now is Apple’s best time to strike and strike hard.”
Our own SteveJack wrote on December 28, 2005, “Could Steve Jobs be preparing to drop just such a bomb on the Windows box assemblers at Macworld Expo or sometime in 2006? Would he first drop just a moderately destructive atomic bomb on the likes of Dell, HP, Lenovo, Gateway, etc., leaving out the ‘Windows apps on Mac without Windows’ threat to Microsoft? Or could Jobs actually be boldly planning to drop the industry-devastating hydrogen bomb on both the Windows box assemblers and Microsoft all in one fell swoop? If a Mac could run Mac OS X and Windows, who would buy a Dell, HP, etc.? If a Mac could run Mac OS X and Windows applications without Windows, who would buy a Dell or a copy of Windows from Microsoft? And what would Microsoft be able to do about it? Drop Internet Explorer for Mac (LOL)? Drop Office for Mac? Big deal, we’ll run the Windows versions on our Macs then, if need be. Is this why Jobs has been building a world-class library of Mac-only software titles for years? Does Jobs still harbor the desire to take back the personal computer industry from Microsoft? Could that be the real reason why Jobs is undertaking the massive switch to Intel-based Macs? Or do you really think the switch to Intel-based Macs is just to get better performance per watt CPUs for Apple iBooks and PowerBooks?”
As Windows-only users buy Macs that will provide them their “comfort” of Windows, they will experience Mac OS X and use it for the excellent Mac-only applications. We all know what happens when people are given the chance to really use Macs for longer than five minutes, they usually want to buy a Mac. These new Apple Mac hardware users will start out using Windows more than Mac OS X and end up using Mac OS X exclusively. Watch and see.
While dual-booting is okay for those that need to use Windows apps, we’d still like to eventually see a solution like Darwine that runs Windows apps without Windows directly in Mac OS X. When that happens, the revenue going to Microsoft dries up and Windows’ death accelerates dramatically.
For those worried about Mac developers leaving the Mac OS X platform and just writing for Windows, we do not think that’s a real worry. Mac developers write for Mac OS X because of the numerous advantages it offers both to them and to the end user. The largest Mac developer, by the way, happens to be Apple, with many best-in-class Mac-only applications (the iLife suite, for just one example). You can’t run these on Windows and Apple isn’t about to abandon Mac OS X for Windows. Oh, sure, maybe a few smaller developers will try it, but most of the shaky Mac developers have already been weeded out during the Mac OS X transition anyway. Mac OS X is strong and getting stronger. Don’t worry about developers leaving the Mac platform for Windows; it’s not going to happen.
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Related articles:
Dude, you bought a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006
Intel-based Apple Mac runs Windows XP ‘fast, extremely well’ – March 16, 2006
Needham: Apple’s Mac market share could rocket to 9-percent if Intel-based Macs ran Windows apps – March 08, 2006
Is Steve Jobs prepping ‘The Cupertino Project’ – Intel-based Macs that will run Windows apps, too? – December 28, 2005
Apple patent application describes Intel-based Macs that run Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows – November 05, 2005
Is Apple morphing Mac into the ultimate PC capable of running Mac OS X, Windows, Linux? – June 20, 2005
Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ ultimate goal: ‘to take back the computer business from Microsoft’ – June 16, 2005
Why buy a Dell when Apple’s Intel-based 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 and Dell must have a lot of bricks lying around today – June 07, 2005
Microsoft CEO Ballmer: Apple’s moved to Intel? Ho hum – June 07, 2005
Apple about to resurrect its Switch campaign? Are the ‘OS wars’ really over? – May 09, 2005
Apple Macs are less expensive, more secure, longer-lasting than Windows PCs – April 21, 2005
Who cares I’ll never run the filth known as Windoze on my sacred Mac.
-L
Just installed it on my MacBook Pro! UNBELIEVABLE!! It works fantastic!! Make sure you run Disk Utility on your hard drive and repair any defects before you install because the disk partitioning feature runs a pre scan and appears to be very picky. THANKS APPLE!!!!
The shot heard around the world!
There have been a few posts saying that Redmond is out and M$ is gone, but that is illogical because the reality is that they make the OS and now Apple have been able to put it on a Mac! More will follow and most probably for Vista eventually…..
How does that amount to M$ going west?
Affy
Macsking:
get it right, Apple is not in any way a software company. If you check their finacial reports you will see that all software sales (including boxed OSX) are a tiny fraction compared to the hardware lineup. Apple is a hardware company – say it with me. Apple themselves have said this over and over. Selling the hardware funds all the other cool stuff like the Pro Apps, OSX, iLIfe, iWork and so on. This is bad news for Dell and co. immediately and not MS as they ARE a software company and would be perfectly happy to sell XP to someone regardless of hardware.
Seve is playing the game…
Mac will gain market share, other hardware vendors will balk to MS to stop this and protect their interests. MS will threaten to pull the MBU if Apple doesn’t stop this. Apple moves forward not caring about the threat, makes a new suite software to replace Office for Mac, and virtualization software will be included in OSX to run Windows software natively in OSX (if you would want too). Home users and corporate users will snap up Macs because they are safer, more stable, and run the excellent Apple software, and can run windows software naitively. Coup d’ete — game over.
I wonder ….. Apple v Apple decision may be due today. Bootcamp has pushed the share price up – maybe the timing of this announcement is to deflect damage to AAPL share price should our Apple lose.
OMG! Dell must be trembling in their boots. Why buy a Dell for $500 when you can have a $1300 iMac.
What is unknown is how many people will buy a Mac with the intention of using it full time as a Windows machine, presumably taking sales from Dell/HP, etc… What is also unknown is what percentage of these folks will end up using OS X after seeing it.
A friend of mine would love a Mac at home but he needs the ability to run Autocad occassionally. This now allows him to use a Mac for all his email, web, and digital life while retaining the ability to boot into windows and work in Autocad.
Bloody fantastic news.
Its a stroke of genius and proof of how confident Apple are in their current and future operating systems.
Shit a brick I’m going to be able to switch sooner than I anticipated.
Put me down for 1 MacBook Pro, FCP Studio, 1 Conroe based workstation and Shake UB. Please hurry along with the latter two please Steve.
I don’t for one moment expect this to have a negative effect on OSX application development.
So now I can persuade my company to buy me a Macbook Pro which I can partition and use XP for my daily work life and switch across to OS X after work. Sorted :O)
Virtualization would be better as I can half both going at the same time but with dual boot I can wait for that.
For a few people who wonder why this is BAD for Microvirus:
It is very bad for MS because people will buy Macs thinking they will TRY it but then load Windows.
Well, what happens is that they try OSX, and then you know what?
THEY FUCKIN’ LUV IT!!!!
And they never even get to to load that Virus ridden crap from the ’90’s called XP.
And then, you know what? More developers start writing for OSX because the user base is growing and they SEE the future.
Even Janet and John might have understood this. I would have thought.
Apple is going to be HUGE. And MS is dead in the water. A confused, overvalued, mess…
That’s not the smell of napalm, it’s Balmer’s deodorant failing again
slike:
a $500 Dell + all the stuff you would need to add onto it to make it feature comparable to what is already included on a Mac = more than the $1300 iMac. That doesn’t even include OSX or an iLife equivalent software bundle.
Ka-BOOM! That is all for now.
Hey Greg, BLOW ME!
Final Cut blew out Adobe Premier and does what previously cost $100 grand on dedicated Avid hardware.
Shake, check out the oscar winning films that ALL use it.
Logic Pro, does the work of a $500,000 dollar SSL console.
Motion, Pages, iWork, iApps, public testing of what’s to come.
Want to talk about revenue? Take a careful look at how software has been making increasing gains at Apple during the last 5 years.
This new XP on Mac development is going to help sell a lot more Apple hardware but in the bigger picture, the cuffs are off Apple to do whatever they want.
I don’t think Apple will ever become a software-only company but they ARE headed towards making a lot more money off of software.
And as for MS, all the experimenters are going to use bootleg versions of XP on their dual boot Macs because that’s what they’re using on their current beige boxes.
If Vista ever sees the light of day it will be interesting. Apple just gave a new lease on life to PC users with a copy of XP on hand.
Forget about Macs taking over PCs in the corporate space (running the odd Windows app). Apple is focusing on conumers and just got rid of their biggest weakness. And what is that for consumer Mac ? ….
GAMES, GAMES, GAMES !!!!!!
Dual boot isn’t practical when you want to run some Windows apps while doing most of your work in OS X (or vice versa). But people playing games will devote the whole machine to the program and not need to go back and forth between environments.
A also, remember an recent article indicating that Intel Macs are speedier than PCs with the same CPU. That’s also gonna help consumers choose Macs.
There is no time to get all game development software companies to port to OS X. Much simpler to do what microsoft did with windows in the DOS era. Leverage a ton of existing software to get people to use your new OS and hardware.
Insanely smart. Go Apple !
Apple dropped A BOMB!!!!!
Just make sure you unplug your ethernet cable when you boot into XP!
Well, it ain’t over till the fat monkey bursts a seam. For this to succeed, we need Windows users to:
1) Buy Macs (and presumably install Windows;
2) Give OS X a try;
3) Finally get rid of the Windows pollution on their Macs.
4) There ain’t no 4.
…this is not even the beginning of the end, but it may be the end of the beginning.
Ideal scenario might be this:
On the Winduz partition, use ONLY whatever PC specific Apps your business can’t live without, or play that game you are addicted to on the Winduhz side.
If the Winduhz side gets messed up with Virus and Spyware–wipe it clean and start over! : )
Meanwhile, your e-mail, Web bookmarks, MS Office documents, and other Mac/PC compatible documents such as the Creative Suite etc. are safe and snug on the Mac OS side that’s STILL RUNNING unaffected!
As the 3 Stooges would say “Poy-fect!”
The critical piece of the puzzle:
Boot Camp also helps you remove the Windows partition, should you so desire.
To all the pundits that said Apple was losing focus because of the iPod: think again.
I just hope that Apple doesn’t eventually become the new Microsoft.
AAPL up over 7.3% (according to my Mac’s Stock widget)!!
Have you bought your stock yet?!!
“his doesn’t hurt Microsoft (yet), but it absolutely puts Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba, etc. into a world of pain.”
C’mon, Dell hed a bigger growth in shippments last year then the whole apple market share…
Less is More has got it.
Windows users will buy Intel Macs because they can run their old Windows programs on it. But they’re going to boot into OS X occasionally to run iLife programs and maybe a few other applications (Comic Life comes with the new iMacs; that’s going to appeal to a lot of folks). Once they experience the simple elegance that’s OS X, they’ll start buying more OS X native programs, eventually booting into XP less and less — only when it’s absolutely necessary. Eventually it may lead to a demand for MORE OS X software, rather than less.
As for me, I have no interest in putting XP on my Intel iMac — I don’t need the headaches…
MW=”activity”, as in “the more activity from Infinite Loop, the better for all of us”…