Parallels, Fusion and Boot Camp just part of Mac's magic

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Sunday, 10 June 2007 12:30

Opinion and Analysis

The Mac platform has never been stronger, with more software and hardware support than ever, fantastic XP, Vista and Linux virtualization support, more Mac buyers, and soon, a new OS.

Especially thanks to the latest virtualization software to run Windows XP and Vista with ease of the Mac platform, with Parallels 3.0, VMware’s Fusion Beta 4 and Apple’s own Boot Camp software (beta 1.3) to run XP or Vista natively, it’s a golden age of computing for Apple and Mac owners.

There’s never been more software and hardware support for Mac OS X, and now the ability to run XP or Vista at the same time, even without physically having to enter the XP or Vista desktop environments is an amazing development, with Parallels 3.0 now offering ‘Coherence 2.0’, and Fusion offering ‘Unity’ to make this possible.

Although plenty of long-time Mac users will scoff at the desire to run Windows or Linux when Mac OS X is available, all those new Mac owners are most likely ‘switchers’, going from the world of Windows to the magic of the Mac for the first time.

Being able to seamlessly run Windows-only software on your Mac desktop at effectively native speed is a revolution, and takes away the pain of having to give up software you like using because a Mac version isn’t available.

Of course, while it is relatively easy to set up on a new Mac, especially if you’re a relatively experienced computer user, beginners might want to get their Mac fanatic friend to help. After all, if you’re running Windows, and it has Internet access, you will need a firewall, antivirus and other software, be it free or paid versions.

Our advice for total beginners is to just get a Mac and use Mac OS X – it does everything you need with style, after all.

But if you’re well used to PC’s and have always thought about getting a Mac, there really has never been a better time. It’s not difficult, and having a Mac that’s also a PC, running all PC software but without requiring you to even look at the Windows desktop, is something that has already reached the ‘second generation’, making running Windows on a Mac reliable and now, invisible if desired.

Better compatibility with Windows is earning the Mac platform more new buyers than ever, likely cheered on by Mac owning friends, the PC problems of their friends, their own PC problems and the ‘I’m a Mac… and I’m a PC’ ads on TV, Apple is cooler than ever and sales are hot.

Of course, Microsoft still holds the record with hundreds of millions of PCs sold each year through companies like Dell and HP with Windows XP or Vista pre-loaded, while Apple only sells tens of millions of PCs per year, but Apple’s market share has been undeniably growing – with Mac sales growing faster in the last quarter than iPod sales!

And with Mac OS X 10.5, it’s only going to get better, with Steve Jobs poised to release all those ‘secret features’ and more, including hopefully iPhone news, at next week’s WWDC.

But while Windows’s dominance made it the platform for which the most software is written, and the most hardware is developed, the latest versions of Parallels, VMware and Boot Camp give you the ability to have the best of all worlds. There’s not much better than that!