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 Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system on its PCs, a move that could draw millions of new buyers

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Apple, with about 3 percent of the worldwide PC market, said the "Boot Camp" software, available immediately as a download, enables Macs to run either Windows XP or the Mac OS X operating software.

Source: Reuters: Apple unveils software to permit Windows use

Boot Camp is available here: Boot Camp Public Beta.

All of a sudden, that MacBook Pro looks even more desireable, and the prospect of running all three major platforms (Mac OSX, Linux and Windows) on one laptop makes me want to flap my little flippers with glee!

UPDATE: Chris is sceptical, but I tend to agree with this:

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.

I.e. anything a regular PC can do a Mac can do, plus a Mac can do something regular PCs can"t: run Mac OS X properly and legitimately.

Source: Daring Fireball: Windows, The New Classic.

UPDATE: Finally. the simplest statement of why this is so cool:

...now there is simply a computing option that runs every major OS.

Source: Penny Arcade.

And that's it. Suddenly, the Mac is the machine of the master of all OSen. Someone who is equally at home in OSX, Linux, Windows now has one machine which runs everything. (I'm sure it'll have Solaris and *BSD on it in pretty short order too.) The multi-OS geek now only needs to travel with one elegant piece of machinery.

I'm just waiting for the new iBooks now. With the Mac Mini spec in a laptop configuration, that will be a very capable WinXP laptop too.