Dell PCs to Run Both Mac OSX and Windows
© 2006 KenRockwell.com

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INTRODUCTION

Dell announced they are developing PCs which will boot in Windows and Mac OSX. These should be available in 2007.

I was wrong - Dell's recent expansion in India wasn't for more bad customer service. Dell would have been morons to do that. The expansion in India is for engineers to develop hardware and firmware tweaks to allow Dell's next generation of PCs to run both Windows and Mac OSX.

With Apple computers now coming with Intel processors, Apple computers will be able to run Windows. This is silly because the whole point of Apple is the OS, not the hardware. It makes much more sense that a PC maker would step up to having Mac OSX run on their hardware.

My complaints about Windows computers like Dell have always been about Windows, not the hardware. A Dell running Mac OSX won't look as good sitting on my desk, but I'm sure will run as well.

SPECIFICATIONS

"Dual Boot" means each time the computer starts you'll have the option of selecting Windows or Mac OSX. This is cool: no computer can run both natively at the same time. Everything today only runs one, period. This means if you need to swap operating systems you can reboot (restart) and select the other.

Dell stresses that both OS' will run natively. Neither is an emulation like Virtual PC.

Of course Windows virii can still destroy these machines if you're running in Windows mode.

PERFORMANCE

Michael Dell was unusually adamant about the announcement. He's had enough of waiting around for Microsoft to get their new operating system to work. MS had promised "Longhorn" for 2004 and it got pushed out to 2005. In 2005 it was renamed to save face as "Vista," which was supposed to ship in 2005. Vista got pushed to 2006, and a couple of weeks ago MS pushed it back to 2007.

Dell has has this project on the back burner since Apple announced they were going to Intel processors. Apple announced that Mac OSX has been designed all along to run on Intel.

Microsoft dropping the ball in March again was the last straw for Dell. This is why Dell ramped up this project from lab exercise to full-scale development and public announcement.

To quote Michael Dell: "We've had enough waiting around while Microsoft tries to get its act together. It's apparent to us that the Windows operating system has hit the end of the road and has grown too complex for itself, or for any hope of future versions running reliably. Maybe it's in Microsoft's interest to suck customers into waiting to buy every upgrade, however Dell is far more interested in providing our customers with a quality user experience. Apple's OSX operating system was giving its customers last year everything that Microsoft was only promising for the future. We can't keep waiting for Microsoft's latest failed science experiment."

RECOMMENDATIONS

Personally I prefer the exterior fit and finish and design of Apple. Apple's products constantly get added to the collections of NY's Museum of Modern Art. I'm a visual artist and appreciate this.

If there are any photographers unconcerned with appearance or tech support I'm sure Dell will work as well for less. I'll probably get one for my wife to replace her Windows machine, on which we still run some Windows-only programs.

TIMELINE

Dell has these working today in their labs. It will take until 2007 to work out every last kink. Apple insists in their license agreement that 3rd parties' machines must run OSX as flawlessly as it does on Apple hardware. Apple is fanatical that their OS give users the experience to which we are all accustomed.

Dell is promising exactly one year until the fist versions are available for retail sale. That puts availability on April 1st, 2007.

Did I say April 1st! That's today! APRIL FOOLS!

I'm only kidding about Dell, but everything else here is true as far as I know. Made you look!