Ordinary Gweilo

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Why?

Apple have announced that it is now possible to run Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac.  The question is why anyone would want to do that…

Windows XP is the best operating system Microsoft have produced (so far), but when you can run it on any old PC you buy, why pay a premium for a Mac?  It would surely be cheaper and better to have both a PC and a Mac (sharing a monitor if space is a problem) rather than doing it all on one machine.  Or buy an XBox or Playstation (or whatever) to play games.  Or anything, really (unless you’re a geek). 

The BBC quotes a comment from Slashdot which summarizes it quite well:

"You get the stability of Windows with the value-of-money of Apple hardware. Sign me up."

Hilariously, someone (thank you "Swindmill from Louisville") thought that this remark was meant seriously and criticized the BBC for repeating it:

Since when is Window stable? Someone at BBC should have done light research before printing that comment. It is well established that OS X is the far more stable operating system.

Er, yes.

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3 responses to “Why?”

  1. dave avatar
    dave

    The attraction for me is that the MacBook Pro has suddenly become a very real choice as a potential work laptop. Not only would I be able to run the work applications I need during the day, I could do video-conferencing, work on my pictures with Aperture, or any of the other Mac Only stuff.
    I think this sums it up quite well:

    The distinction between these two equations may strike you as subtle, but the difference is potentially momentous. The point is that it recasts Macs from being “different” to being “special”. Instead of occupying a separate universe from that of PC hardware, it’s now a superset of PC hardware. Instead of choosing between a Windows PC or a Mac — which decision, as I wrote recently, for most people is more accurately stated as “choosing between a familiar Windows PC or an unfamiliar Mac” — you now get to choose between a computer that can only run Windows or a computer that can run both Windows and Mac OS X.
    Source: http://daringfireball.net/2006/04/windows_the_new_classic

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  2. dave's wibblings avatar
    dave’s wibblings

    Apple unveils software to permit Windows use

    Stunning news: Apple unveils software to permit Windows use! SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL – news), the maker of the Macintosh computer and iPod music player, on Wednesday rolled out a first-ever software patch to run Micro…

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  3. Chris avatar
    Chris

    I hadn’t thought about laptops, but maybe it is a good option for them.

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