“Turning a decades-long rivalry on its head, Apple Computer introduced software today that it says will easily allow users to install Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system on Apple’s newest computers,” Vikas Bajaj reports for The New York Times. “The software, Boot Camp, is available as a free download on Apple’s Web site and will be part of the next version of Apple’s operating system, Leopard… Many personal computer users have been reluctant to switch to Apple, because they cannot use software that is written to run exclusively on the Windows operating system, said Charles Wolf, a longtime technology industry analyst at Needham & Company.”
“Apple ‘can say the Mac is better till they’re blue in the face, but they’ve got to respond to people’s concerns about switching, no matter how irrational,’ said Scott Heiferman, an Apple user and the chief executive and co-founder of Meetup.com, the Internet site that helps groups form and organize. ‘I bet some people will switch, because of the safety that this news provides, but they’ll end up not rebooting to Windows very often.,'” Bajaj reports. “Mr. Wolf calculates that Apple’s biggest market share gains will be among users at home, who are more likely to be swayed by Apple’s design and media features, than among corporate and government customers, who will likely to stick with the cheaper hardware and software configurations they are used to.”
Bajaj reports, “The shift could mean an increase in sales for Apple over time, especially after Leopard becomes the standard Mac operating system late this year or early in 2007. But the company’s gains do not have to mean big losses for other hardware makers, Mr. Wolf said, because they will only lose a small fraction of their market share. ‘You are starting out with a market share of 2 or 3 percent and maybe going to a market share of 6 or 7,’ he said. ‘Apple is not going to take over the world.'”
Full article here.
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Arse biscuits!
Win XP users being irrational…hmmmm, the more things change, the more things stay the same…..
‘You are starting out with a market share of 2 or 3 percent and maybe going to a market share of 6 or 7,’ he said. ‘Apple is not going to take over the world.’
Hmmm. As a Mac user old enough to remember the 50’s when GM rules the civilized world, I can remember someone saying the VERY SAME THING about Japanese car makers!
Apple needs to redesign Boot Camp. OS X should load first…then if you want to use windows click on an icon in the dock. OS X should always be the main boot of a Mac. Fix this Apple we know you can.
Consider this:
Apple gets a bunch of hardware sales in the next 10 mos. from Switchers who may run a LOT in Windows… and switch over to do iPHoto stuff. Windows, with OS X on the Side, if you will.
Vista is released.
Say it’s not “YET” Supported by Boot Camp.
People who want to upgrade choose Leopard, as it comes with virtualization software… to run Vista, meaning they’re essentially switching to OS X, with Vista on the Side.
The transition slowly happens.
People getting a little frustrated that they can’t use some features of OS X with windows, like the iSight, start using OS X more…
‘You are starting out with a market share of 2 or 3 percent and maybe going to a market share of 6 or 7,’ he said. ‘Apple is not going to take over the world.'”
Buuuuuuuaaaaaaahhhhh BBBBBUUUUUUUAHHHHHH BBBBWWWWAAAAHHHHH!!!!
You are starting out with a market share of 2 or 3 percent and maybe going to a market share of 6 or 7,’ he said. ‘Apple is not going to take over the world.'”
But the loser now will be later to win for the times they are a changin.
Seriously, Windows users are so……I can’t think of the word. Stupid? No. Dumb? No. Set in there ways? Yeah…kinda.
Ok, I can see maybe using XP for Games. Perhaps Microsoft should come out with a GAMES version of XP.
But why would I want to run it for email? To get a virus? To get a virus via Internet Explorer?
It’s also amazing that all Windows users expect their 1999 or earlier hardware to work with a new system. Example is a music list I am on, where some guy has this sound card. You can get a BETTER one, for $100, which has more features, etc etc, but he wants to use the one he has.
I don’t get it.
MD News Magic Word: “Question” as in “I question the need for supporting hardware 7 years old”
I’ll be glad when the day comes that you Apple head Kool-Aid drinkers are in the minority and find something else to whine about.
God, I’m FAT!
So, yeah the reason I switched a year ago is because I wanted NOTHING to do with windows. So, no I dont want my Mac run Windows; if I wanted Windows, I’d own a Dell.
Overheard in a restaurant last week.
“Switch to a Mac? How can they be superior, there isn’t even a floppy drive!”
LMAO.
There’s too much irrational fear on the Mac side for what’s going on here. This isn’t some mythical thing Apple whipped up in a matter of a day…this has been planned for A LONG time by Jobs & Co. They know what they’re doing. And lest we all forget that Steve said in an interview many moons ago that he plans to RETAKE THE DESKTOP MARKET.
Hasn’t anyone noticed why no word of Leopard has been released up until this Boot Camp program surfaced? There’s something much bigger here going on than many of use know about, least of all the Redmond group.
Jobs & Co. are moving their pieces. They’re getting set to check mate the devil and remove his addictive evilness from our society.
There’s something big that’s been in the plan for a while and I think we’re just now seeing the tip of it.
Why do you think Mac OS X only comes with Chess? It’s because Steve & Co. have been secretly telling us they’re no fools and it’s time to put this OS game into check! M$ Windows comes with mindless wastes of time…exactly what their OS is.
Roy, it’s not for you then. Boot Camp is for those of us that switched to a Mac or otherwise love our Macs but *must* run some Windows software for work. I fit in this category. I have a PowerBook G4, but I also have to keep a Dell laptop with me in case I have to do any work for my company. Being able to take one laptop, use OS X for everything, but having XP there in case I need to get into something at work, will be awesome. I have two applications that I need for work that define my entire career and they do not have Mac versions. So, this is for people like me and others whom situations I have not thought of.
iDont – I’ll be glad when the day comes that you Apple head Kool-Aid drinkers are in the minority and find something else to whine about.
I’ll be happy when Trolls get a life and don’t feel so insecure that they need to go to Mac sites to show how desparate they really are. Physcotherapy is another forum, we talk Macs here. I wouldn’t go to a site on painting and offer unsolicited opinions if I was blind from birth.
iDont – I’ll be glad when the day comes that you Apple head Kool-Aid drinkers are in the minority and find something else to whine about.
I’ll be happy when Trolls get a life and don’t feel so insecure that they need to go to Mac sites to show how desparate they really are. Physcotherapy is another forum, we talk Macs here. I wouldn’t go to a site on painting and offer unsolicited opinions if I was blind from birth.
iDont – I’ll be glad when the day comes that you Apple head Kool-Aid drinkers are in the minority and find something else to whine about.
I’ll be happy when Trolls get a life and don’t feel so insecure that they need to go to Mac sites to show how desparate they really are. Physcotherapy is another forum, we talk Macs here. I wouldn’t go to a site on painting and offer unsolicited opinions if I was blind from birth.
iDont – I’ll be glad when the day comes that you Apple head Kool-Aid drinkers are in the minority and find something else to whine about.
I’ll be happy when Trolls get a life and don’t feel so insecure that they need to go to Mac sites to show how desparate they really are. Physcotherapy is another forum, we talk Macs here. I wouldn’t go to a site on painting and offer unsolicited opinions if I was blind from birth.
I think alot of people have missed the real point.
Vista is late for the holiday selling period and won’t be here until 2007.
Someone wants to buy a replacement of their old PC. They might have brought a PC with Vista but it’s not here.
Oh, there’s a MAC I can buy now and it runs windows.
I think I’ll get this and when Vista comes out I can buy that too.
But wait, After a few weeks – why do I need to buy Vista?? I have Windows XP on MAC and it runs everything I need, especailly the stuff that doesn’t run on MAC’s. I’m really fallin in love with Leopard. I’m sticking with what I have and there’s no need to buy Vista.
CHECKMATE – Vista sales don’t capture the upgrade market. More people buy MAC with Leopard. Only new users will get Vista when they buy Dell or HP, etc.
See the market erosion of MS.
>”Switch to a Mac? How can they be superior, there isn’t even a floppy drive!” >
Yeah! Where’s my 8 track?
I bought a MacBook Pro yesterday and brought it into work, which is entirely Windows-based. What a reaction it got! Everyone loved the look of the machine, but above all, everyone was amazed with OSX. I showed them Expose, spotlight, iPhoto – they couldn’t believe it. Even dumb visual candy things, like minimising documents into the dock, amazed them.
It helped make up the mind of one of my colleagues – he’s buying an iMac today. Another colleague asked my opinion about whether she should get a Mac, and my response was – why would you choose Windows? Another colleague is curious and wants to see it run AutoCAD (which it can, now that I’ve installed Boot Camp) and doesn’t quite believe that it’s compatible with Windows.
Most people out there have no idea that alternatives exists, let alone what the alternatives can do.
This is not the end of the mac but a new beginning to exciting possiblities. Never underestimate the ability of Steve Jobs to prove everyone wrong. All the tech writers said no one would ever buy an iPod because its price was too high. They said no one would want to download their music because they would want to own a physical copy of it. They said Apple was going to be dead (not sure how many times this was said). Jobs is on a mission. Boot camp is the beginning of something big. All we have to do is to sit back and see what else comes out of Cupertino. Personally, I think this is a new approach to take back the desktop market from MS not give it to them totally. Don’t sound the death knell quite yet because I don’t think Jobs has even begun to fight.
In a year or two the irony will be that like with iTunes and iPod where most owners/users will be Windows PC owners; most PC owners that buy a Mac will be using it to run Windows on their Apple computer.
“Jobs & Co. are moving their pieces. They’re getting set to check mate the devil and remove his addictive evilness from our society.
There’s something big that’s been in the plan for a while and I think we’re just now seeing the tip of it.”
Jim you could not be more on the money! THIS IS A GAME OF CHESS AND STEVE and the boys at Apple are waiting to make their real move when Leopard comes out. This stuff has been in the works for YEARS. You are now starting to see a BIG part of the intel switch.
But iWould,
Its nuts like you and other Apple devotees that give Macs a bad rep. All the hate M$ might be justified but it does not help win converts people to Macs. The majority of people are turned off by blind hate of any type. I love Macs but dislike many Mac users. Especially you.
MW: taking. Like in, you taking a long walk of a short pier.
I saw a video from Apple with interviews with a bunch of “potential switchers” – Basically, Apple was doing market research to find out why their switch campaign of a few years ago was not more successful. This boot camp scenario goes a long way towards addressing some of the major concerns of the test groups.
Crikey, it’s amazing how many people who claim to be Apple enthusiasts are panting along trying to keep in sight of the company’s tail lights.
The Macintosh is DEAD! as of yesterday. When is a glass half full or half empty? When is an Apple PC a Windows machine or an OS X machine? Of course Apple will hang on the the dusty ‘Mac’ name for a while – it knows how many zealots are out there with deep pockets and an irrational (and exploitable) sense of identity.
The Mac died with OS 9. OS X is NeXt with pretty clothes, a fake passport and a mission.
Remember Jobs saying “”If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it’s worth – and get busy on the next great thing. The PC wars are over.” – well it’s happening guys – YOU HAVE BEEN MILKED!
Apple PCs will be a success beyond anything the company has ever achieved… running Windows (and this funny little OS called X). Then Apple will remove any need for third-party software houses to write anything other than a single version of their apps… rely on Microsoft to continue producing the planet’s most horrendous and cluelessly fucked-up OS – and, finally, channel about 3 billion into unleashing a promotional blitz for Leopard (or, more likely, LION).
“… this is your Mac speaking – your Mac is dead”
(with apologies to Hawkwind – In Search of Space)
“I´m buying a Mac to run Windows!”
The new Apple ad tag line…
——-
Well, actually very, very few Windows users even think about Apple (except for iPod and iTunes) and will never give up their cheaper, faster PeeCees.
Wonder why Apple dropped this now? Why not when Leopard comes out? Why the diversion and from what?
Something else is up…like iPod sales have totally stalled or something.
Well, maybe we’ve got Chess because Steve figures Mac users are smarter and don’t need the three most commonly used Microsoft products: Solitaire, MInesweeper and Hearts.
I think boot camp is a brilliant way of changing peoples thinking about
what an OS is, and what an application is. It’s just like iTunes on a PC
machine. Why have different versions of software if I can have both OS
on my MAC? Soon it will just be at the point where the application runs
inside whatever environment is required. I’m no tech dude, but this
makes way more sense to me than converting every program that someone
might want to run on OSX or XP for that matter.
Twenty Benson,
I may be Hedges my bets, but don’t go and die of cancer anytime soon, ya’hear.
(Ha! Ya see what I did there?)
This will have very little effect on drawing Windows users to Apple machines. “Calm their fears?” That is a HUGE load of BS. They have no fears. They can already go to ANY Apple store and try out a Mac. They can play with Macs that their friends may have. Being able to run Windows on a Mac is for UBER geeks. That’s not a knock by the way. I’m sort of one, kind of.
The average person will not bite at this. It’s just not a carrot on a stick.
Some Mac users may find this useful (gamers for the most part) but the majority of people won’t. It’s a non issue with them.
Over the past several months, I’ve read many a plea on this site for Apple to advertise the Mac and OSX. Guess what folks…they just did, and in a way that is classic Apple. This release has some jaws dropping. The news media, both printed and broadcast is now talking about Apple. Several fellow engineers at work have been talking about Boot Camp and are seriously considering the Mac as their next computer purchase. It appears to me that Apple is getting plenty of free advertisement from this news.
Apple has planted the biggest trojan horse (OSX) in the industry and it’s hidden in plain sight. Providing Apple has done some serious homework to assure that Boot Camp works as stated (and the initial reports look good so far), it’s going to sway quite a few people. Curiosity will draw those people to try out OSX and satisfaction will make them switch.
There are those, however, that won’t change no matter what Apple does (anyone thinking, “Thurrot”). Let’s face it, all the advertising in the world won’t change people like that.
I work in a business employing about 40-50 people
3 of us currently use Macs
2 or 3 more were considering a Mac
Since Yesterday at least a further 3 more will buy a Mac as their next PC
If I go out of my way when I speak to those I do not see on a daily basis that will easily increase to 10, 15 or more
Can anyone say ‘Paradigm Shift’
Magic word Freedom
I wish I could get a REALLY powerful Apple computer to run Autocad on. When will the new professional machines arrive?
I need dual monitors and as I see it now there are none available that will run Windows.
But I’m thinking about getting an iMac for at home just to give it a try anyway.
Overheard in a restaurant last week.
“Switch to a Mac? How can they be superior, there isn’t even a floppy drive!”
——
Please tell me you’re joking. That’s almost stupid enough to be believable. I call bullshit.
Jack wrote:
“Apple needs to redesign Boot Camp. OS X should load first…then if you want to use windows click on an icon in the dock. OS X should always be the main boot of a Mac. Fix this Apple we know you can.”
Jack, if someone wants their Mac to boot with Windows by default, will that hurt Apple’s bottom line? No. Instead, Apple makes a sale to someone who might have otherwise purchased another PC.
You and I know how much better OS X is, but why force a customer to boot it if they would prefer Windows? I think it’s great that Apple lets you choose which OS to boot into. I’m picturing a company that wants to go all Mac but requires a few Windows workstations for some custom application. They can still go all Mac, and Apple still makes the sale.
I very excited for Apple. They know the risks, but they also have a much better picture of potential rewards than we do.
For my own part, I very excited to have a Mac than can now run ANY application natively. Maybe I won’t, but at least I know I can.
Michael
“I’m x 2”
Geez.
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Autocad user, the 20″ Intel iMac supports a second screen up to 23″ and should be powerful enough for your needs.
http://www.apple.com/imac/graphics.html
I was in the apple store yesterday… an old geezer (about my age) came in and said…”I used to use a mac, but have not been able to use one since my work went windows many years ago… I heard about boot camp… I am ready to go back to mac… I’ve been out of it for a while… show me what you have” This is just the beginning…
Quick Math:
1. Apple is 30 (1976-2006)
2. Microsoft is 25 (1981-2006 counting from DOS 1.0)
3. Vista is 6 years late (XP 2001 to Vista 2007)
Q: What percentage of the total life of the Personal Computer has MS been without their latest OS?
A: 24% (6/25)
Nearly a quarter of the life of the industry MS has been out of the game, the the percentage is rising. I’m not sure when Apple introduced Tiger to do that calculation but it has probably only ever been less than 6% (2yrs/30). I know these figures are meaningless and reduce over time, but useful to know how much the Vista gap is in PC-years.
It should be noted that there are some – albeit not that many – applications in the Windows world that refuse to play nicely in a virtualised environment, so Boot Camp is a clever way of getting those users if they are interested in switching.
Additionally, announcements like Parallels Workstation help to create a complete set of choices for Macintosh users: choices which may well be enhanced if the rumours of virtualisation technology being built into Leopard (and by inference, Leopard Server) turn out to be true.
Apple is slowly positioning the Macintosh to be the Swiss Army Knife of client computing: the migration to Intel created a situation where they eliminated the little-endian/big-endian problem and the emulation problem in a single strategic move.
Does anybody really believe that the move to Intel and the rumoured virtualisation technology in Leopard really came into Apple’s corporate head less than 12 months ago? I suspect that the major functionality roadmap for Leopard was probably agreed whilst Tiger was in early development, and the opportunity for a virtualisation element – if true – was actually one of many ingredients that acted as a catalyst for change.
With all of these developments, it becomes clear that Apple is no longer satisfied with owning 100% of the Macintosh market: It is probably after the top 10% of the PC market as well. Such a target would probably mean that Apple is looking for around 15% market share in the USA alone within three years, numbers that would have seemed impossible prior to SPJ’s return.
In all of this, we should not underestimate the importance of the iPod!
The iPod family has – in its own way – completed its mission: it has made Apple relevant again, it has generated free publicity and – most importantly – it has given Apple a revenue safety-net which has enabled the company to think creatively about how to stay in existence for another 30 years. All of the moves of the last eighteen months have been partially facilitated by the iPod’s success in winning attention from the Windows user community which makes Dell’s failure to market the DJ even more damaging: firstly, they got screwed by producing a product that nobody wanted and now – as a result of the success – they are going to probably lose a significant amount of their PC business.
It’s a pleasure to watch genius in action…
Autocad user>
I’m guessing around Week 42, given that Conroe is due to start volume shipments around Week 36-40.
In English, that would be the middle of October.
From the summary: Mr. Wolf calculates that Apple’s biggest market share gains will be among users at home…
Riiiiiight. Bob McHomeuser is going to shell out an extra $200 for a box of Windows XP and install it himself.
Not gonna happen, folks. “Home users” don’t install operating systems. Hell, most of ’em don’t even upgrade the one the computer comes with!
No, the biggest impact will be among PC game fanatics (who are a small fraction of “home users”), and office workers who will be able to convince their boss to let them have a Mac.
MCCFR
You are right on the fact that this is not just 12 mo. old. Stevie wanted to go to Intel about 4 years ago, but IBM talked him into this new faster processer that never came to pass.
The way I see it, this notion of the current changes, was possibly in the works for far longer than 12 months. Althought to go against this is that Steve was looking for faster processors at the time, and not cross compatibility. But if one had a faster processor, virtualization would have been faster, and the same might have been achieved.
Still need more available software for the macOS for there to be broader adaptation.
MDN “here” Here we go.
Mike –
Can’t make this stuff up, also heard the famous comment about a one button mouse. This person’s computers are set up where they work and at home by a geeky nephew. They’ll never go to the extreme of installing WIn on a Mac and they’ll never spend the money for a mac as long as they have the geeky nephew. The hope is to convert the geeky nephew. : )
One backlash of this, you can have your Mac, but all your software will now be PC to save us money. ARGH!
I can see it in the not distant future at the Apple store:
Customer: I´m a PC owner and I want an iMac.
Apple salesclerk: Great – you can take one home today.
Customer: Can I have it delivered with just the Windows OS?
The way I see it, this notion of the current changes, was possibly in the works for far longer than 12 months. Althought to go against this is that Steve was looking for faster processors at the time, and not cross compatibility. But if one had a faster processor, virtualization would have been faster, and the same might have been achieved.
What was the OS Next was working on that Microsoft paid Apple not to develop for five years? Essentially it was OS X but it ran on all three platforms, it was one of the reasons Apple purchased Next.