Virtualization Arrives For Macintel

?Virtualization Arrives For Macintel?

I am going to write a series of progressive posts in this thread.

PART I presents an article by Ed Bott regarding his opinion of
dual-booting versus virtualization.

PART II is a summary of a previous post I made about virtualization. It
will be used to measure up the features of the virtualization software
just released.

PART III will discuss the arrival of Parallels Virtual Workstation
virtualization software for Mac OS X, currently in beta, as marketed on
their website.

PART IV will delve into their provided documentation to try to tease out
further details.

===================================

?PART I?


< http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=31>

Ed Bott's Microsoft Report
April 5, 2006

Apple's Boot Camp is just the start
Posted by Ed Bott @ 6:37 am

Apple has formally introduced a utility called Boot Camp that lets
owners of Intel-based Macs run Windows XP:

Boot Camp simplifies Windows installation on an Intel-based Mac by
providing a simple graphical step-by-step assistant application to
dynamically create a second partition on the hard drive for Windows, to
burn a CD with all the necessary Windows drivers, and to install Windows
from a Windows XP installation CD. After installation is complete, users
can choose to run either Mac OS X or Windows when they restart their
computer.

It¹s a time-limited beta, but Apple¹s press release promises that the
feature will be formally available in the upcoming OS X Leopard release.

I¹m not a big fan of dual-booting, which represents a crude solution to
compatibility problems. If you own a Mac, you bought it because you want
to use your Mac applications. It¹s an enormous hassle to shut everything
down and boot into an alien operating system to perform a task that
can¹t be accomplished in the native environment. And while you¹re
running Windows on your Mac, you¹ve lost all access to your familiar Mac
desktop and programs. I'm also skeptical that drivers written for
Windows XP will work seamlessly on this unfamiliar hardware platform.
When you add it all up, this is a feature that diehard enthusiasts might
experiment with, but it won't be particularly useful in the real world.

Now, what would really be interesting is if Apple or a third-party
software maker could create a virtualization layer that allowed Windows
and native Windows programs to run in an alternate process under the Mac
OS. If I knew I could install a software layer like VMWare or Virtual PC
and toggle instantly between the Windows environment and the Mac OS,
with the ability to share data files and a Clipboard, I¹d be sorely
tempted to buy an Intel-based Mac.

Ironically, Microsoft might not even mind. Every one of those virtual
PCs would require a license for its copy of Windows, sending a big
ka-ching to Redmond and making it possible for any Mac owner to become
part of the Windows family. It's all part of Bill Gates' original,
1970s-vintage mission statement for Microsoft: "A computer in every home
and on every desktop, running Microsoft software."

Want to take bets on how soon it will happen?

Update 5-Apr-2006: Well, that was fast. According to Walt Mossberg in
The Wall Street Journal, a Virginia-based company called Parallels, Inc.
will release a beta version of its Windows VM package for Macs later
this week. Mossberg says the program will be called Parallels
Workstation for OS X and will cost $49, plus the cost of Windows itself.


===================================

--
Fortune Magazine, 11-29-05: What's your computer setup today?
Frederick Brooks: I happily use a Macintosh. It's not been equalled for ease
of use, and I want my computer to be a tool, not a challenge.
<http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/12/12/8363107/>
[Frederick Brooks is the author of 'The Mythical Man Month'. He spearheaded
the movement to modernize computer software engineering in 1975]
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Dual Boot Win XP On Macintel: More Re Boot Camp
    ... Apple today declared war on the Microsoft monopoly with Boot Camp Public ... a Mac as well as Darwine. ... There is nothing stopping a vicious Windows specific virus from ... and go for serious virtualization, which is to say that Windows XP would ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Windows printer installation nightmare
    ... I just HAVE to tell you Mac users about this horrible experience. ... First of all, Tommy, there is NO anti Windows Jihad. ... Next came the toner cartridge installation. ... Just like the directions and pretty pictures showed. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Windows printer installation nightmare
    ... I just HAVE to tell you Mac users about this horrible experience. ... First of all, Tommy, there is NO anti Windows Jihad. ... Next came the toner cartridge installation. ... Just like the directions and pretty pictures showed. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Windows printer installation nightmare
    ... I just HAVE to tell you Mac users about this horrible experience. ... First of all, Tommy, there is NO anti Windows Jihad. ... Next came the toner cartridge installation. ... Just like the directions and pretty pictures showed. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Is any part of Ethernet circuitry tied to Open Firmware?
    ... several hardware features on the Mac, and the Ethernet port might be one ... that Boot Camp went out of beta, and Apple included the Windows driver ... requiring a big download from Apple and burning the drivers to CD. ... installation of Mac OS X 10.5 on your hard drive) is the Boot Camp ...
    (comp.sys.mac.system)