Just a rumor? Maybe someone here will know

[Robert M]

Last night, I was talking to a friend of a friend, and he told me that when the new Intel-based Macs come out, Windows programs will also run on the new machine.

He told of an entertaining caper at a show unveiling the new architecture (don't recall where or when... sorry). He and his cohorts turned off the monitor so as not to attract attention to what they were doing, popped in a Windows CD and then waited a few minutes with someone standing at the computer so no one else would try using it. When they turned the monitor back on, they were looking at a Windows desktop.

So...

Anyone else heard stories about this? Or was it just a shaggy dog story to share over a pint of brew? I'm hoping someone on this forum might know for sure.

Thanks in advance.

[DPDAN]

My hunch is that Microsoft's Windows OS will not run on an Intel MAC,
and Apple will make sure of that. It also makes sense that Apple will not want OSX to run on anything but a MAC, it's just the way competition has always been.

It's kinda like the Ford verses Chevy thing.


Both are great proven products, but Ford wants you to buy Ford parts,
and Chevy.... well Chevy's don't need parts.... JUST KIDDING :D

Just a gut feeling, :)
Dan

Quite some time ago, Bill Gates made a reference to General Motors and how it is similar to the computer software industry, and how the prices have come down with software, but unlike the automotive industry. It caused General Motors to issue a press release stating:

If General Motors had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:
1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time the lines in the road were repainted, you would have to buy a
new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would
have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off
the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For
some reason, you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your
car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to
reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable,
five times as fast and twice as easy to drive-but would run on only five
percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be
replaced by a single General Protection Fault warning light.
7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and
refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned
the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
9. Every time GM introduced a new car, car buyers would have to learn to
drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same
manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the Start button to turn the engine off.

[Jerry W.]

Robert,

Watch this. This is the Keynote address from Steve Jobs at the WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference)

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc05/

He goes into a LOT of detail about what this is and what it is not.

For Windows developers to port to a intel-mac version is VERY easy. For current Power PC app makers, porting will be easy depending upon which code they used to create it.


Just watch it and your answers will be there.

Jerry :)

[qbert]

The word from Apple officials (though not the "official" word, as in a press-release) is that they will not do anything to prevent booting a mac-tel with Windows or whatever. They did, however, said they would not "support" such a scenario (read: don't call Apple tech and ask why Windows XP runs so crappy :-)

I've read more than one projection that this would make it easy for MS to make Virtual PC talk to the hardware directly and be a much better application than users currently endure. (Really, who wants to reboot their mac just to run a Windows app? Not very productive, if you ask me.) Imagine instead, running a near full-speed version of XP in an OS X window!

BTW, Apple HAS stated they would not allow OS X to boot on non-mac machines.

JP

PS. Here's a good read on the subject:
http://www.macworld.com/2005/06/features/intelfaq/index.php

[Robert M]

DPDAN --

I was a little skeptical when this fellow told me the story. Maybe it happened, maybe it didn't. But I truly enjoyed your addition of the GM rebuttal press release. :-)

Jerry W --

Thanks for the link to the keynote address. Unfortunately, I'm on a dial-up system, and after three tries it simply will not play. I imagine a text-version of the address exists somewhere over there, and I'll go looking for it shortly.

The whole reason this issue caught my attention is because my primary studio program is and will only ever be ported to Windows (FL Studio 5), but in speaking with other folks it does seem that a Mac-based music studio computer might have advantages over a Windows box. I like the way FL works, and the price fits my budget.


qbert --

Thanks for the link. It had some interesting answers. I didn't realize the timeline of this transition, and your link answered that issue. It means I still have some time to think about what direction to go.

[Thad]

(Really, who wants to reboot their mac just to run a Windows app? Not very productive, if you ask me.)

VPC has never required you to reboot your Mac in order to launch Windows.