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Windows Drivers for Mac Rolling Out 522

Posted by CmdrTaco from the only-a-matter-of-time dept.
OSXpert writes "Sure, we all know that Windows can now run on intel Apple Computers. Alas, the solution does not include drivers, and until now Mac users could still only hope to be able to use every application available to their Windows counterparts. However, with drivers now working 100% on the Mac Mini and drivers for the MacBook Pro only lacking video (which, by the looks of the 2nd link is only days away), Mac users now have a complete and working Windows solution."
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Windows Drivers for Mac Rolling Out More

Windows Drivers for Mac Rolling Out

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  • Linux (Score:2, Funny)

    by Gax ( 196168 )
    But can it run.... never mind.

    The development community is fantastic. I have no urge to buy a Mac at the moment, but I may reconsider. Most companies would stumble when making a major platform jump, but Apple are going strong.
    • The reason they're going strong is because they're going from a less common architecture to THE MOST common architecture.

    • Re:Linux (Score:3, Insightful)

      by m50d ( 797211 )
      You forget that Apple has done this before.

      • Re:Linux (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Scoth ( 879800 )
        Twice even, if you count the 68k->PPC and Classic->OS X transitions. Heck, you might even count the Finder->Multifinder transition since that took a bit of doing in some applications. 24 bit->32 bit maybe? I was always amazed that System 7.5.5 still ran on a 4 meg Mac Plus.

  • This says it all really (Score:4, Funny)

    by Kangburra ( 911213 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:34AM (#14971316)
    TUAW [tuaw.com]

  • If you're not part of the Windows Solution (Score:5, Funny)

    by LiftOp ( 637065 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:35AM (#14971323) Homepage
    ...you're part of the Windows Problem, I guess.

  • iBook user says... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Lave ( 958216 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:36AM (#14971326)
    Disclaimer - I use an Mac OS X 10.4, and Linux Scientific Linux distro's daily. I haven't used Windows for almost 2 years.

    And I know this thread will just consist of - "why would you want to do that?" "Whats the point, when your running OS X? It's so much better..."

    Shut up. This is a good thing. Many people need to use Windows for work, and this lets do that. Whilst giving them the good stuff at home. Many people like to play computer games that aren't photshop.

    Don't be stupid. Please.

    Please!

    • Shut up. This is a good thing. Many people need to use Windows for work, and this lets do that. Whilst giving them the good stuff at home. Many people like to play computer games that aren't photshop.

      I see your point and can appreciate where you are comming from. However, in this case, semantics are important. People do not need to use Windows at work, they are required to. The longer you allow someone to use a crutch, the longer they will use it - even if it is not really necessary anymore.

      My p

      • Re:iBook user says... (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Lave ( 958216 )
        I agree with you, I should have said required.

        But this brings an interesting point. If people duel boot Windows for work and OS X for life, then there may be a switch over at work. "Hmmm, I think I will do this presentation Keynote, why not." It creates a mac presence in the work place. Which has to be good.

    • Re:iBook user says... (Score:5, Informative)

      by darkmeridian ( 119044 ) <<moc.liamg> <ta> <gnauhc.mailliw>> on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:59AM (#14971510) Homepage
      My firm reimburses only for Windows-compatible laptop purchases. Until now, I was stuck with a Thinkpad T60 with the CoreDuo but now I can argue that I can get a MacBook Pro. See?

    • Yes, THIS. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by omeg ( 907329 )
      Yeah, that's right. Seriously. You'd think that after getting their questions answered, those guys would just know that there are indeed good reasons to run Windows on a Mac. It seems that there's just an endless supply of people who are unwilling to listen to good reason.

      Anyway, having said that, let me say this one last time:

      Some.

      People.

      NEED.

      Windows.

      Nobody's said that this is being done because Mac OS is inferior or anything of the sort. The only big reason is because there are people who are stuck

    • Re:iBook user says... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by dave420 ( 699308 )
      Also remember that some people actually *like* running Windows. Your idea of "the good stuff" might equal someone else's idea of "the nightmare stuff" ;)

    • I can see your point, but what happens when a given software company is looking at what platforms to write their software for, and sees a Mac user can easily boot / run Windows? Why are they going to pay a bunch of money for Mac developers when they know you'll just dual boot your Mac to run the Windows version?

      At that point, why write OS X apps at all? Because it runs better or it has transparent windows? (sarcasm)Yeah, I'm sure software companies are going to fork over lots of money just to maintain a

  • Because you *can*. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Sierran ( 155611 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:37AM (#14971328)
    You can use Mac OS X with proper drivers (i.e. written by Apple, as they intended) and now (if you want to) you can use any 'Windows Only' applications that may be foisted upon you by, say, your job. Come on, people, it's not rocket science. Plus, when Linux is fully up, you'll have a completely triple-boot machine. All of which makes it even harder for the beancounters in your enterprise job(tm) to say "No, you can't have one of those because it can't run Approved Software(tm)".

    Asking "Why would you?" is aking to shoving your head in the sand and asking "Why would you run a Mac?" Sure, go ahead and limit your choices. I'll be taking one from *every* column, thanks.
    • Where in the world do you work that your company would allow you to (a) choose your hardware, and (b) have any say in what OS is installed? Pretty much everywhere I've ever worked, these decisions are made by IT for funding, legal, and technical reasons.

      I understand why one would want to have a triple boot machine... that sounds very nice. But as far as finding a company that would allow you to buy one with company funds, use a hack to get Windows running, and then install the software they own on a com

  • Cool (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Hektor_Troy ( 262592 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:40AM (#14971355)
    Lots of people griping about the use of it, but who cares about that? It's like asking about why you'd dual boot Linux and Windows.

    I like the idea - the hardware is nice, I like the OS, but I'm not 100% certain that the programs I use some of the time has been ported to OS X or if it has a usable counterpart on OS X. Lack of something like WINE makes this a viable option, should I choose to get a Mac (looking dreamily at the MacBook Pro).

    I'd get nice hardware, an excelent OS and the option of still using the old and busted OS and irreplacable programs if I need them. Best of all parts I think.

  • Great News! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by NutMan ( 614868 )
    My daughter will be entering Univ. of Cincinnati's DAAP (Design, Art, Architecture & Planning) school next fall. The college uses almost all Macs EXCEPT for the Industrial Design program, which requires a PC running Windows. She much prefers a Mac, and was probably going to buy a Mac for her own use and a PC for any school requirements. However now she could just get an Intel MacBook and a copy of XP.
    • And when Microsoft or Apple issues a patch that breaks this your daughter is sol until the patch is overcome. I don't think you want to support that. I'm sure the schools have plenty of PCs with all the required sofware on them so I'd avoid buying the PC unless they turn out to have Pentium II 450 machines with 128mb of ram.

  • Good for Developers? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gurutc ( 613652 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:41AM (#14971371)
    I would think that application developers would benefit from having a single, dual-boot system to develop in two flavors. Maybe this will benefit the Mac community by making it easier for resource-strapped app innovators to buy a macintel box that lets them server OSX and Windows app consumer markets.

  • Lord of the... (Score:5, Funny)

    by maillemaker ( 924053 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:42AM (#14971377)
    "Do you know how the orcs came to be? They were elves once." :)

    Steve
  • "...Mac users now have a complete and working Windows solution."

    You really do have a very different view of 'complete', 'working' & 'solution' from most people I know.

  • Complete and Working Windows (Score:3, Funny)

    by digitaldc ( 879047 ) * on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:43AM (#14971389)
    Mac users now have a complete and working Windows solution.

    Cool! Now maybe they can sell it to Microsoft to get their Windows solution to work too?

  • Ball in Microsoft's court... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SRCShelton ( 9180 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:48AM (#14971417) Homepage

    If Microsoft has any sense, they'll make damn sure that Vista supports all of the hardware that Apple uses. Any additional retail Windows sales they might get from this have got to be good (because how many people buy Windows off the shelf nowadays?) - and isn't 5% of the market a lot to ignore?

    They'll never do a "Windows for Apple" - it'd be too easy for Apple to pull the rug from under them - but I wouldn't be surprised if Vista quietly gains support for the non-working components and 32bit EFI, and that this quickly becomes the worst kept secret in computing...
    • Retail sales for Windows are almost irrelvant compared to OEM sales. I don't see Microsoft making any special modifications for a vendor that is not a Windows OEM.

      > 5% of the market a lot to ignore?

      More like 2%, and they don't ignore it, they make software for it. (Including VirtualPC, which is likely more profitable per copy than a OEM Windows license).

  • Geez Guys (Score:5, Insightful)

    by thefirelane ( 586885 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:48AM (#14971422)
    Everyone, please ... repeat after me:

    Options are never bad!

    one more time...

    Options are never bad

    Just like I know I shouldn't put regular gas in a porche... I want the thing to run on it in case of an emergency.
    • Options are never bad

      Unless they are the only form of bonus or payment you will be receiving from your employer...
    • On the contrary having too many options can be bad by causing confusion. Take, for example, the plethora of Linux distributions. A seasoned user knows what he wants. But for a newbie, so many options can be bewildering and frustrating.

  • Still waiting for "Classic mode" Windows (Score:3, Interesting)

    by phillymjs ( 234426 ) <slashdot.stango@org> on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:51AM (#14971448) Homepage Journal
    Great! Now we just need the final piece of the puzzle: something that will let me run that same installation of Windows as an OS X application, the same way OS X runs OS 9 on PPC Macs.

    Because I need to run Windows apps occasionally during the day, but having to boot back and forth to do it would seriously suck.

    I'm sure someone's working on it, and that someone is going to take a lot of sales from any future version of VirtualPC that will run on the MacIntels. (And that'll be what you deserve for dragging your feet, Microsoft.)

    ~Philly

  • Can things really be that different. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by matgorb ( 562145 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:57AM (#14971489)
    First, dual boot is a myth, it is damn annoying and so counterproductive. Most people dont realise that until they actually experiment it, it's hype now, but all Linux users know it's a pain, and I know from experience that a dual boot Windows/Linux means one thing... Windows 90% of the time. Vmware and others solutions are the way to go for people who need Windows professionaly for a given application, I can't wait for a Mac OS X version. Second, some people try to makes us believe that companies will buy Apple PC to their employees now that they can run Windows, yeah right, serious manager will buy more expensive hardware, plus a Windows licence, so that their employees can have an Apple design and the joy of using Mac OS X out of the office... Lastly, Gamers, Well Windows users will probably not switch to Apple hardware to play, it's more expensive, and you'll get a better gaming PC for the price, hardcore gamers don't really care for Apple design, last time I checked it was more neon and see through glass panel...Seriously, You already have to be freaking rich to play seriously on laptop, do you think people will pay even more for an Apple on the back screen... I see this all thing as one big geek experiment, because it is what it is, mostly geek will do it, just because it is fun, but Apple geek will at the end stay under OS X, and Windows geek will soon realise they over paid their Windows laptop...

  • I am dual booting and it is amazing! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by soapvox ( 573037 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @09:58AM (#14971497)
    For someone like me who uses 75% mac and have to do a few PC things for work this is great. I travel a lot and I am about to go on my first roadshow in a week where I wont have to lug around 2 computers as I have been for the past 3 years. I have tried Virtual PC, Qemu and even remote desktop and nothing was ever a complete solution, this is. So all those asking why, thats why!
  • This is nice for them, but I really want to know how long it will be before we have the wine-equivalent of OSX... I need to be able to run Safari on my slackware laptop, so that I can test my website.
  • When will VMWare support the new Intel Macs? Dual booting gets old very fast. I need a few Windows apps but now I use VMWare to run them, which works great. It would be awesome if I could also do that on my Macs instad of just my Linux machines.

    BTW, I'm primarily a Linux user, but I prefer Macs for laptops, sound editing, and graphic work.

    • Re:VMWare (Score:4, Interesting)

      by wandazulu ( 265281 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @10:16AM (#14971666)
      I asked this very question and the answer was a cagey "stay tuned for an announcement...". I suppose they could come back and say "no way, no how", but I see no reason why they wouldn't, short of some insurmountable technical hurdle, which given the miracles VMWare performs on a daily basis for me, doesn't seem likely.

      I think it'd be win-win for them...VirtualPC is now controlled by Microsoft and maybe they'll update it, maybe they won't, but VMWare has nothing to lose, and they have the better product as well. This could very well be one of the most killer apps for the Mac platform. Sad, but I'd rather take my Mac to work and run Windows under VMWare than use a POS Dell.

      I'd say that getting VMWare would be the most popular app available on an Intel Mac after (maybe before) Office. Plus the fact that VMWare's guest OS can fill the screen when running locally, it's like dual booting but without the lack of stability. :)

  • Excuse me? (Score:3, Informative)

    by diamondsw ( 685967 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @10:01AM (#14971526)
    Doesn't look like all of these drivers are working from here [onmac.net].

  • For those of you looking for a VMWare/ solution... (Score:3, Informative)

    by AugstWest ( 79042 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @10:09AM (#14971596)
    qemu [bellard.free.fr] has been ported to the Mactels, as is WinTel [openosx.com] from openosx.com.

    Of course, there's always Darwine [opendarwin.org] as well.
  • Nope...

    get back to me when I can on a MacBook Pro:

    capture video over fire window into Sony Vegas
    output hardware accelerated graphics through the DVI second monitor output to a HD projector
    play audio through the speakers
    use one partition to dual boot mac os x and windows xp
    sleep, reboot and restart all work without hanging the system

    still got a long way to go...

  • More software! (Score:3, Funny)

    by lancejjj ( 924211 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @10:42AM (#14971906) Homepage
    Good deal! There are thousands and thousands of software products that are only available on Windows, and now I can run them on my Mac!

    For instance, Norton AntiVirus for Windows, Adware Destroyer Plus, and so many other titles only work well under Windows.

  • This question might make heads explode, but (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Catbeller ( 118204 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @11:54AM (#14972545) Homepage
    I know this may be considered silly, but: I don't care to run XP. I run Windows 2000, because I own legal copies, because the OS is rock solid, because it doesn't seem to vacuum up the viruses and spyware that XP does, it doesn't spy on my system and phone home to Redmond (oh, XP will, just give it time), and finally, 2000 doesn't shut itself off I change too many hardware components, and require me to beg Redmond to turn it back on. It just works. And I really don't care about games.

    Is this massive knowledge base being built for installing XP applicable or adaptable to installing 2000 on the Mac? Drivers, yup. That would be a problem. But generally?

  • so, (Score:3, Insightful)

    by circusboy ( 580130 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @12:13PM (#14972731)
    those are all fully licensed copies of windows right?

    why? he asks, into the screaming wind...

  • Do the Intel Macs have virtualization hardware? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @02:27PM (#14974347) Homepage
    Do the Intel Macs have the virtualization hardware needed to run Xen properly?

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