It’s still in beta, but it looks awesome. Yeah, you could do this before without Apple’s blessing, but the hardware support was limited. This has drivers for everything.
Damn…I currently have a PowerBook and a Thinkpad (I need a Windows laptop for work), and haven’t been planning any upgrades for a while, but this might force me to pounce on a MacBook Pro.
I wonder how many people this will push over the edge…
Next they just need to start selling Windows machines in a Windows box. I can really see business taking off for them after that.
Really. It seems like Apple is moving steadily in the direction of becoming a clone of Dell. In a few years, they’ll be the iPod Corporation, and the only thing different about their computers will be the case.
<twitch…twitch>windoze, on a MAC, okayed by Apple?!? <head explodes messily, coating the thread with a thin mist of gore>
MacTech HATE WINDOZE, MACTECH SMASH WINDOZE!!!
SMASH SMASH SMASH!!!
(how’s that for “pushed over the edge”, oh, yopu didn’t mean that way…
well, at least it’s officially an unsupported config so i can at least tell customers that I won’t have to support their bloody windoze configs, if the hardware works in Mac OS, then it’s working fine, got a problem with windoze, take it up with micro$oft, it’s not my problem…
well…i guess this is one way of getting viruses, spyware and adware on a Mac…
on the upside, however (Dear OG, am i saying there’s an upside to this?!?, MUST…BLEACH…BRAIN!!!) at least i’ll have a larger amount of games to choose from…
personal reccomendation, run the app and windoze from it’s own dedicated hard drive (internal in a G4/G5 tower, or external FireWire for portables/iMac/MacMini), so if worse comes to wors, ahem…WHEN worst comes to worst, you can simply wipe and reinstall windoze, there’s no way i’d allow any form of windoze free reign on any of my drives, it’d be relegated to a easily-disconnectable “quarrantine” drive…
it’d also give me a way to safely poke/prod/torture that poor, bloated Mac OS ripoff with no risk to my REAL OS…
i don’t think so… to clarify…
besides, the day Apple abandons the Mac OS for windoze will be the day that Dante’s Inferno glaciates…
Hard core Mac-heads should be thrilled with this. If Mac OS is so much better than Windows as is the common claim, this will convert a lot of people to their cause. Lots of folks who would have never bought a Mac before this will give it a shot now, I’ll bet.
“but many customers have expressed their interest to run Windows on Apple’s superior hardware now that we use Intel processors”
And that makes the computer different from any other Intel computer, exactly HOW?
Bob
Yay! I can run an overpriced OS on overpriced hardware! 
(Don’t hurt me.)
Call me when I can run MacOS on my (cheap, self-made) Windows machine.
Wow. Looks like I hit a nerve there.
Looks more like an artery to me.
Anyway, this really does push me towards getting a Mac… I want the iLife stuff, but I want to get a computer to play CoH on, and I don’t really want to re-buy Office 97 (you know you have to, more or less)… and this just makes Macs more appealing.
nope, no nerve hit there at all, just wanted to clarify the fact that Apple has no plans to switch to an inferior OS…
funny thing is, from what i’ve been reading on rumorsites and such (which should be taken with a grain of salt) is that windoze xp running on a Mac (Core Duo MacBook Pro) actually runs faster than on an equivalent pc…
the current debate is to how it’s going to be implemented in Lepoard (10.5), is it going to be running in a layer llike Classic (OS 9.2.2) did in OS X on the PowerPC based machines, or is it going to be a seperate environment accessed through “Fast User Switching”, essentially having Mac OS and windoze xp running concurrently and the user can switch between them…
i’m hoping more for the “FUS” option, the last thing i want is to have windoze running inside the Mac OS itself…
since Boot Camp allows windoze full hardware-level access (the only thing emulated is apparently the PC BIOS), “FUS” would be the more logical choice…
as long as i don’t have to support windoze officially, i could care less, my job is to fix Mac hardware and software issues, NOT windoze, if the Mac side works, the machine is working properly, take up windows problems with micro$oft, it’s not my job
You know what makes Mac users really look clever? When they misspell Windows in order to insert insults that sort of make sense into the name!
I got no dog in this battle because it’s an issue that couldn’t have any less relevance to me - but seriously, MacTech, cut back on the coffee. That or get rid of the general defensiveness. There’s nothing to worry about. It’s not like Apple’s going to stop selling MacOS, so you can tone down the holy zeal with which you defend it.
Aww, you’re no fun anymore 
after all, the OP wanted someone to be “pushed over the edge” by this announcement, i was simply playing a role, ACTING!!, yeah… that’s it, acting!
and the Academy Award for best overhyped dramatism goes to…<drumroll>
MacTech!
<crickets>
<crickets>
ahh, screw you guys, i’m going home…
As mentioned upthread, this removes the last barrier for me to get a Mac (other than the money required for a new computer, of course). I’ve been impressed by Macs for years, but I didn’t want to buy all my software again.
It’s alnmost time for me to buy a new computer.
:: plan plan ::
:: save save ::
Of course, if certain major software vendors, one of whose names begins with A, had offered no-cost ‘side-grades’ to swap their Windows software for non-Intel Mac equivalents, I probably would have a Mac already.
Is a Penny Arcade strip appropriate for this thread?
I think it is.
What are your… preferences?
I bet there’s tons of users like you. This idea seems like a real no-brainer now that they’ve switched to more compatible hardware. Being able to run either platform on one computer is a huge advantage and it reduces the cost of switching to the Mac essentially to nil (well, beyond the somewhat higher hardware prices . . . )
I’d also imagine windows would run a bit more stably on a Mac, mainly due to the consistent hardware and drivers on a Mac, you don’t have to deal with the 15 billion some-odd possible hardware combinations like in the PC world, a Mac is a Mac, all MacBook Pros/iMacs/Minis/etc… have a consistent group of hardware components/drivers, there may be slightvariations between the hard drive sizes, and video cards, but nothing like the chaos in the PC world, motherboards/processors/sound hardware/etc… are all consistent…
I agree. The deliberate misspellings of “Windows” make the Apple fanatics look childish and pathetic. And it tends to discourage those of us who might consider trying to use an Apple computer.
Good news for gamers: Boot Camp is looking FAST.
=^^=