“Microsoft, accelerating its efforts to convince European lawmakers that it is changing the way it does business, said Tuesday it will give away software that will enable computers to run multiple operating systems at the same time,” Kevin J. O’Brien reports for International Herald Tribune.
O’Brien reports, “Georg Greve, president of the Free Software Foundation Europe, said he had not seen the details of Microsoft’s giveaway but cautioned against assuming that it was motivated only by pragmatism or a new spirit of cooperation. ‘If Microsoft were doing this for altruistic reasons, it would be a first,’ Greve said. ‘I think they are probably trying to get more machines on the Windows platform, and they may also be trying to improve relations in Brussels.'”
“Microsoft said it was relinquishing all license claims on the new software, Virtual Hard Disk Image Format, which will allow computers running on rival products like Apple’s OS X or Linux, its chief competitors in operating systems, to simultaneously run Windows,” O’Brien reports.
O’Brien reports, “According to the research firm International Data Corp., there will be about 500,000 computers, mostly servers, running dual operating systems by the end of the year. That number is expected to explode to 1.5 billion by the end of 2009. Three Microsoft competitors — International Business Machines, Sun Microsystems and Apple [Boot Camp]— already offer similar software.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Matt M.” for the heads up.]
[UPDATE: 1:19pm EDT: After re-reading the article, we modified the headline, removed the extraneous note and edited/removed comments that might have been confusing after our changes were applied.]
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Microsoft license terms limit Vista virtualization to Vista Ultimate or Business versions – October 18, 2006
re: gwn’s comments
I sympathize with your situation. I used my first Mac in 1986 at work–a 512k Mac. I couldn’t have used a computer at that time if it wasn’t for Mac (PCs were still mostly DOS). I became a lifelong Mac enthusiast. I wanted a Mac of my own o badly. I was finally able to afford a $1200 Mac Plus and Imagewriter in 1988. It was a stretch for me at that time, but I loved that machine even though I had to flop discs and there were a lot of things I couldn’t do with putting out more $$ for an external hard drive, etc. When rthe internet got popular, I was using Win 95 on a PC at work. I thought this works pretty well most of the time and in 1996, I wasn’t sure if Apple would even survive. So I bought my second computer, a PC running Win 95 for about $2K with a monitor and printer.I had to wait to I got a bonus at work to afford it. It had very good graphic capabilities and I was able to get on the internet, so I was quite happy about it. Still I lusted after a Mac. I did everything I could to make my PC as Mac-like as possible—changing the icons, installing the standard Mac fonts, etc. It looked somewhat Mac-like but still wasn’t the Mac-OS. Finally in 2004, I got a flat screen iMac, using my severence from a job to pay for it–about $2000+. For a lot of people its rally a stretch to afford a Mac. Even though its probably cheaper than a similarly-equipped PC. Yes, I promote Mac to my extended family members and co-workers, but I know that it would be a stretch for many of them. When I go into Best Buy or Circuit City and I see the sales person talking a new-to-computers customer into buying a eMachine or other piece of crap, I want to scream that I know a better machine. But I don’t because I know that’s all they’ll be able to afford. I still rankle over how expensive my Mac Plus was at the time, only to be superceded a short time later. Recently, my daughter got a money gift from her grandfather to get a computer—she’s going to get a MacBook, but I know she has no appreciation for how long I had to wait and save to get my first computer.
So, yes, I certainly appreciate what gwm is saying. and I won’t look down on someone who would love to run Mac OS on a cheap Dell box.My computer expenditures are still lmited by my other expenses, though I’m better off financially than when I bought that first Mac. But I won’t forget how expensive it has been to be one of the Apple faithful use a computer with a decent OS.(I won;t forget my joy at having a computer with the best OS, either.)
Thanks for the nod, jimd
The good news is that it appears that we will probably become a single computer household sometime next year and that single computer is looking more and more likely to be a Mac. Which means that my wife’s PC would be the one that goes away, ultimately. The bad news? hmmm .. I guess there really isn’t any.
Anyway, thanks again. Hopefully it’ll happen for us sometime before OS X 10.9 (sic). heh. Regardless and in the meantime, that CD drive G3 iMac is indeed the only computer that will be in use on my end of our desk. For sure.
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