Maui-X-Stream, a small Hawaiian company that develops streaming media technologies, has developed a low-cost emulator that they claim allows Apple's Mac OS X operating system to run on the x86 system architecture. The company announced the software, dubbed CherryOS, earlier this week and proclaimed it to be a breakthrough for home users, software developers and Web designers who operate Windows based PCs.

CherryOS runs as a virtual machine to mimic Mac G4 hardware on Windows PCs. The virtual machine has complete access to a system's hardware resources and networking capabilities. New hardware connections are automatically detected. For a genuine experience, the software's processor emulation includes support for the G4's "Velocity Engine" multimedia instruction set.

According to the company, work has already begun on a stand-alone virtual machine that is not dependent on Microsoft's Windows XP which would result in lower costs.

Arben Kryeziu, CherryOS's inventor, claims that he developed the software because he, "got tired of carrying both a Mac and PC around with him."

"Now about 600 million PC users can have the Mac advantage. One computer to use all software and if PC users would use Mac software to get email, perhaps they would avoid viruses, Trojans and spyware,” said Kryeziu.

He continued, "You can build and test applications for a Mac on your development PC, test web site design for Mac web browsers without having to buy the hardware, run OS X, the world's best Operating System, on a less expensive hardware platform and use your favorite Mac apps on a PC."

The software is available as a 7 MB download selling for USD $49.95. The price does not include a copy of Mac OS X which must be purchased separately. More information can be found at the CherryOS Web site.