Evolution of Running Windows on Mac
This is Y.A.M.P. (Yet Another Mac Post) but please bear with me. :)
One of the reasons why people are not too keen on using Apple computers is its inability to run Windows or Windows-based programs. In order to address this, there are a number of ways to make Windows *and* Windows-based applications on an Apple computer. Here are a few:
The oldest method was to emulate or virtualize Windows using, well, Windows Emulator programs like VirtualPC, Parallels, and the open-source "Project Q" which is based on Qemu. Emulating Windows to run Windows-based programs is rather kludgy since Windows (and its programs) will not run full-speed when emulated (read: it runs really slow). However, this is still a viable alternative if the programs are not too demanding. Emulation is the only way to run Windows on a PowerPC-based Apple machines though it also runs perfectly on the newer Intel-based Apple computers.
The advent of the Intel-based Apple computers opened up the possibility of running Windows natively on it. The first attempt was by some real-life hackers who were seduced by the $12,000 bounty for releasing a method of dual-booting the Apple. While the hack worked fine, a couple of weeks later, Apple themselves released "Boot Camp", a program that makes their computer dual-boot Windows officially with no work-arounds and hacks needed. Once Boot Camp is installed, an Intel-based Apple computer can dual-boot both OS X and Windows. Best of both worlds!
Then a couple of days ago, a company called CodeWeavers announced that they will be releasing a program called Crossover Mac. Once released, this program (Crossover Mac) should be able to run Windows-based programs without having to emulate Windows nor re-booting to Windows. This is, in my opinion, is the pinnacle of the Evolution I was talking about in the title. Imagine working on OS X and you click on MS Outlook 2003 and MS Outlook will simply run seamlessly. Codeweavers will also enable *some* games to run in Crossover Mac but their list is not yet finalized. What makes Crossover Mac remarkable is that unlike the other two methods enumerated above (Virtualization/Emulation & Dual Booting) which requires a Windows license, Crossover Mac *does not* and *will not* require a Windows license at all.
technorati tags:apple, apple-macintosh, intel-mac, windows, virtualization, codeweavers, crossover-mac, virtualpc, windows-emulation
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2 comments:
Won't the time needed to translate Windows' commands (example: draw pixel at 1020,656) into something the OS X understands slow things down? Or does this program go straight to the source, so to speak?
That's why emulation/virtualization is, IMHO, the slowest among the options. However, according to tech pundits, the upcoming "Conroe" processor can support emulation/virtualization at the CPU level making it way faster than it is now.
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