RSSCompany Offers Windows in Mac OS
By Ed Oswald | Published April 6, 2006, 1:50 PM
While Apple has given its users an option to choose between Windows or Mac OS X at startup, other companies are working to give Mac users the ability to run Windows from directly within Apple's operating system using virtual machine technology.
Herdon, Va.-based Parallels said Thursday that it would begin a beta test of its Workstation product for Intel based Macs that would not only allow users to run Windows, but also Linux, FreeBSD, OS/2 or just about any other operating system with the Mac OS X environment.
Apple's switch to Intel processors has made better and faster virtualization possible on its machines. The transition also opens up the possibility that the computer maker could broaden its user base beyond the consumer and into the enterprise market as well.
The Cupertino, Calif., company seems to realize this, touting virtualization as one of the major new features of the next-generation OS X operating system, code-named "Leopard."
Parallels said its support of Intel's virtualization technology would result in almost native performance of the operating system, while not interfering with other virtual machines that may be running.
"This release underscores our commitment to building solutions that anyone, regardless of budget, technology savvy, or operating system can use to improve productivity and platform flexibility," Parallels Marketing Manager Benjamin Rudolph said, adding that his company's software allows users to keep the usability and familiarity of their Macs.
Each virtual machine would act like a separate computer, the company said, with its own virtual hardware, including RAM, hard disk, processor, I/O ports, and CD/DVD-drives.
The company also produces a similar product for Linux and Windows machines, which costs $49.99 USD. No announcement was made as to the expected cost of the Mac OS X version, although Parallels plans to release a final version within weeks. A beta download of Parallels 2.1 for Mac OS X is available now.
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While BetaNews will attempt to supress this:
The fact is that Mac is dead and just hasn't read it's own obituary !
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The Computer Rodent
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|You must be joking - the Mac is better than ever - I keep one around to run a number of Mac-only apps but OS X is just great. And before you accuse me of bias (just in case), I would tell you that I use Windows, Mac, and Linux on a daily basis - they all have their strengths and weaknesses - but OS X is getting better and better.
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|While there are a number of Virtual Machines for running Windows, etc. on OS X, they all run under emulation - and therefore run at a highly reduced speed. While they are useful if you need to run a Windows app occasionaly and aren't concerned about speed, they are not a particularly useful alternative to a native Windows boot.
The story here is that Parallels has gotten Windows to run natively on the Intel processor, essentially poking a hole through the OS X operating system, allowing both OSs to run at full speed simultaneously. This means, at least theoretically, that you can have one machine running both OS X and Windows apps at the same time seamlessly.
I'd say this is pretty cool if it works as well as they suggest.
Probably not relevant for 3D games, since you probably don't want themachine doing anything else when you are running them, but potentially very useful for general business and computing needs.
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|I've been using it for several days - it works great (minor beta bugs only). What confuses is me is how incredibly similar it is to VMWare - right down to the "TOOLS" that you install after you have it running.
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|>>> but also Linux, FreeBSD>>>
I find that kinda funny considering Mac OSX is built on top of unix anyways (a BSD Derivative no less), so other then losing the fancy GUI and few Mac specific items, its not a bug change oh bonus.
That and aren't there already a number of products out there for the mac that does this already?
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|Not really. What was available (Virtual PC/QEMU) don't work on the new Intel Macs. Q (from QEMU) works but it takes 5 min to boot and a few hours to install XP. Plus some updates from Microsoft refuse to install.
I've tried Parallels Workstation for MacOS X and it's blazing fast. Boots WindowsXP in about 3 sec!
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|OSX employs a GUI that runs atop UNIX.
OSX does not run on top of UNIX, and (without going into the internals and inadvertently provoking an endless debate) is a 'variant' of FreeBSD.
{Gee whiz mom, Let's see: the next time I employ a quote your response might be appropriate.
And I was not 'arguing' any point of his, merely qualifying a small aspect. OSX does not run, nor is it built "atop" anything - it is integrated into BSD.}
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|He, phill666, never said it does "run on top of UNIX", but rather it "is built on top of UNIX."
Buy some reading glasses, contacts, have the necessary eye surgery, or simply try harder next time to get your quote correct before arguing a point.
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|The only update it didn't want to install was the Media Player - not sure I give a damn about that!
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|Um... is this news? They already have a product..
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