Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service January 16, 06, the report was omitted in this postAnalysts say it won't be long before a version of Windows that runs natively on Intel-based Macs is available
The idea of running Windows on the Apple hardware just got a lot more appealing with the introduction of Macs built on Intel processors. But don't expect Apple to be too keen on the idea.
"We haven't done anything to explicitly prevent it, but we haven't done anything to encourage it either," said Apple manager Wiley Hodges of running Windows on Macs at the recent MacWorld conference.
At the expo, Apple introduced two new Intel-based machines, an iMac desktop and the MacBook notebook; the iMac is available now, with the MacBook scheduled to ship in February.
Even without specific help from Apple, the existence of Macs built on Intel's x86 instruction set eventually will give users a choice of OSes to run on their new Apple machines. Analysts believe it won't be long before someone comes up with a version of Windows that runs natively on the new Intel-based Macs, even despite a firmware incompatibility issue that prevents Microsoft's OS from running on the new Intel-based Macs.
Apple's Intel-based Macs support extensible firmware interface (EFI), whereas Microsoft's Windows XP supports BIOS, and the two are not natively interoperable. EFI and BIOS control the basic functions a computer can do, such as start up and boot up the OS, without accessing programs from its hard drive.
"I have no doubt that a clever person would figure out how to make it work even if Apple doesn???t support that," said Dan Kusnetzky, programme vice president at IDC. "I've been amazed at how people have looked at vendor choices and found a way to do what they wanted to do anyway."
Linux also is a potential option for users that want to have more than one OS on their new iMac or MacBook, said Bruce Perens, vice president of SourceLabs, an open-source software and services company.
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→Intel Macs give users more OS choice
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