New Options for Windows on Mac

While I was off galavanting around Amsterdam, several announcements came across that will cause a stir in the Mac community.

Apple released a tool called Boot Camp that will allow the new Intel-based Macs to install Windows directly onto the Mac and boot either into Windows or into Mac OS. This is currently a beta product, but it’s expected to be a free tool available to users of the new Macs. This will allow Macs to run Windows and Windows-based apps directly on the Intel chipset, bypassing any virtualization, which will increase the speed of the Windows side. Reports say that Windows XP on the Mac Intel hardware runs faster than on other Intel-based PCs. The downside is that you cannot run both OSes at the same time. If you boot into Windows, you will not be able to run Mac apps or possibly access the Mac data that’s on the drive.

Parallels has released a beta of their product, Parallels Workstation, which will run Windows on an Intel-based Mac in a virtual session. This will allow you to run both OS platforms at the same time, although neither OS will run quite as fast as if it were the only app running on the system (ala Boot Camp).

The Microsoft Virtual PC product for Mac currently will not run on the Intel-based Macs and I am unaware of any expected updates to the current product to allow that. Possibly in a future release, but with the Parallels Workstation price point of $49, it’ll be hard to beat.

Keep your ears open for more developments on this front…