Boot Camp

Last week Apple released the beta-version of a software called Boot Camp, which lets owners of Intel-based Mac computers install Microsoft's Windows as well as the MacOS operating system, which comes pre-loaded on the machines (To ratify our statement -- Boot Camp won't work with earlier Macs built around PowerPC chips). Many believe that embracing Windows could help Apple boost sales to some of the millions of people who have come to rely on Windows-compatible programs, but have fallen out of love with their Windows-based Personal Computers.

Apple has sold a few hundred thousand units of Intel-based Macs since October. Since Apple isn't pre-loading or selling copies of Windows XP, customers who don't already have a Windows XP CD have to pay the $200 retail price. Also, if someone wishes to install both operating systems, toggling between the MacOS and Windows (that is shutting down and restarting in OS of choice) would take a few minutes and may prove to be a major hurdle, as many have already encountered by installing both Windows and Linux in same machine. Last but perhaps the most important point to keep in mind is that neither Apple nor Microsoft has agreed to provide customer support for Windows on the Mac!

You can download 'Boot Camp' from here. You need an Intel-based Mac having Mac OS X Tiger v10.4.6 and 10GB free hard disk space.