ON APPLE DOING WINDOWS

MORE THE MERRIER

Om Malik's GigaOm has a good guest-post by Gary Morgenthaler, that focuses on ways that Apple's next Macs could optimize running multiple operating systems:

"Leopard’s “spaces” feature could allow you to seamlessly switch between Mac OS/X and MS Windows with a single keystroke. Therefore, you could quite easily run both MS Windows applications and Apple OS/X applications on the same hardware at the same time – and just as easily switch back and forth.

Better still, Apple’s dual processor architecture featuring Intel’s Core 2 Duo architecture, provides four separate processor cores on which to run applications. Therefore, switching between operating systems should be instantaneous because each OS maintains its separate context.

By the time Mac OS/X “Leopard” is released in 1Q07, Apple could market machines with dual Intel quad-core processors. That means Apple’s Mac Pro could possibly have a total of eight processors, each capable of running a different task and/or a different OS and application."

These scenarios take further a possibility I outlined in August last year, before we knew about OS X Leopard, Spaces (demo video), and operating system virtualizing software like Apple's Bootcamp and/or third-party Parallels:

"(Apple) could offer a Mac desktop and/or laptop that has TWO hard drives in it.  One has the latest and greatest Mac OS on it.  And the second has Windows XP/Windows Vista on it, which of course, the customer pays for.

This makes it VERY easy for the user then to boot up into EITHER operating system, and have both Windows and Mac applications (and their own related files), on the same machine.  They'd just be on two different drives on the same machine."

So I obviously like Gary's description of how Windows could be a seamless, mainstream experience on future Macs.

The question is almost not "if" any more, but "how".

The big question is whether Apple would actively re-sell Windows XP or Vista equipped machines on it's Macs, or let third-party re-sellers do it for them.

Both would make sense for Apple in the long-term, widening it's appeal to mainstream PC users who don't want the hassle of buying and installing Windows on their own.

The latter approach though could potentially mean Apple shifting sales from it's direct channels like the online and offline Apple Stores, to third-party re-sellers.

What WILL Apple choose?

Comments

[Jason Parekh]

It will definitely be interesting to see how/if Apple will allows users to run Win apps under OS X. The current solutions (virtualization products) work well, but there is still that divide that doesn't make sense to the average consumer (why should all my Windows app be on a separate desktop than the Mac apps? Why can't I cut and paste?).

I see most potential in Wine-based products (CrossOver Mac (commercial) or Darwine (OSS)) as they can truly integrate with the rest of the OS X desktop. They will share the exact same file system as OS X, so no worrying about sharing folders between the two OSs. Each Win app will have its own window, so window management between OS X and Windows apps will be seamless. Also, cut and paste/drag and drop between Windows and Mac apps should become reality soon. Ironically, Wine suggests their implementation of the Windows libraries are potentially faster than the Microsoft's: http://wiki.winehq.org/BenchMark-0.9.5

From a business perspective, Apple won't have to force users to buy a license of XP/Vista just to run those apps (always better to not give money to the enemy, right? :) It'd be amazing if Apple perfected Darwine/Wine bundling it into OS X! This doesn't actually seem that implausible. Apple has no qualms with open source, the only question is whether Wine (even with potential Apple patches) is ready for mainstream?

But then again, if this integration becomes mainstream reality, will developers take the time to write software for the Mac? The beauty of OS X and its software would be lost in the long run.

Either way, if you haven't done so already, I recommend all of you to check out the free beta of CrossOver Mac: http://www.codeweavers.com/beta/cxmac/ . It supports most of the mainstream Windows apps that people would need on the Mac (mainly Office). Coming from Linux, I faced these same issues. I used CrossOver Office (Linux's predecessor of CrossOver Mac) and it really amazed me how well they've built on Wine in terms of both compatibility and installation of Windows software.