In emulation, every minute instruction has to be translated from one processor's language to another in software, which is always enormously slower than running directly from hardware. But virtual machines on a PowerPC had to emulate the processor instructions of an Intel chip. Virtual machines are portable, meaning that you can run the same virtual machine on many kinds of hardware that wouldn't otherwise support a particular operating system. use a virtual machine - a kind of bubble that makes an operating system think that it's running on hardware instead of within software.

Until Apple made the decision to switch from PowerPC to Intel chips, the only well-supported way to run Windows on a Mac was via Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac and similar products, such as Lismore Software's Guest PC. Having one's Mac and running Windows too may be the answer, although it requires a new Intel Mac. Millions of present and future Mac users may fit the bill of needing limited Windows operation. Windows applications may have the sheer numbers, but the relevant part is whether the software you need is available on your preferred platform.Īnd certain specialized scientific, academic and networking software runs only on a single platform - or has a superior developer on one operating system - whether that platform is Windows or Mac OS X.Įven I, a 21-year veteran Mac user, must fire up my Windows laptop to run NannyPay because I couldn't find a similarly inexpensive and full-featured domestic employee-payroll package for Mac OS X. I won't repeat the old canard that there's more software for Windows than for the Macintosh. All prove that Mac users who need or want to run Windows won't need a separate computer.

And again.Įach of three methods I used had its advantages. And then, not quite perversely, I did it again. Rather, I installed a brand-spanking new version of Windows XP Pro on an Intel-based Apple Computer iMac. As in: 'The only way to solve that problem, sir, is to reinstall Windows on your computer.' This wasn't the usual Windows installation experience - or should I say reinstallation experience. In the past week, I installed Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (SP2) three times, and loved every minute of it.

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