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Information Technology News Parallels threatens to give Boot Camp the boot
Information Technology News Parallels threatens to give Boot Camp the boot | Parallels threatens to give Boot Camp the boot |
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| by Stan Beer | |
| Friday, 16 June 2006 | |
  
 A new product from a US-based startup threatens to steal the thunder of Apple's dual boot Windows and Mac OSX software Boot Camp before it even gets started in earnest. The product, from Parallels Inc, is called Parallels Desktop for Mac and is the first solution that gives Intel-based Apple users the ability to run Windows at the same time as Mac OS X in an isolated virtual machine.Unlike Boot Camp, which requires users to reboot their computer if they want to switch between operating systems, Parallels Desktop for Mac allows users to run Windows inside a separate virtual window within Mac OSX. Thus, unlike Boot Camp, users can run Mac and Windows applications at the same time and switch between them freely, as well as cut and paste and share information between the two systems. Windows emulation programs for Mac environments have been around for some time but poor performance has been a big detractor because Windows was never designed to run on anything other than Intel processors. Now that Mac has moved to the Intel platform, virtualisation requires much less overhead and early reports from reviewers indicate very good performance for Windows running side by side with Mac OSX. While some commentators have suggested a rivalry between Apple and Parallels could emerge, in fact the release of Parallel is very good news for Apple. It has removed the last technical obstacle standing in the way of Windows users who may want consider buying a Mac instead of a solely Windows PC. It also allows Mac users who may need to use a PC on occasions to have just the one machine. The news for PC manufacturers, however, does not appear to be good. Unfortunately for them, Apple does not license Mac OSX to anyone but itself. So while it is technically feasible to run Mac OSX in a virtual window within Windows, it is not legal. Finally, the limits of Parallels Desktop for Mac don't just extend to running one virtual machine inside Mac OSX. In fact, hardware configuraion permitting, users can run a number of virtual machines simultaneously. What's more Parallels permits users to run any version of Windows, as well as Linux, in a Mac OSX environment. At US$79, Parallels Desktop for Mac ironically could well be a bigger money spinner for Apple than Parallels Inc itself. In fact, if it hasn't already considered it, Apple may do well to just buy the startup instead of developing its own virtualization product as has been rumoured. {moscomment} |
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