Boot Camp

Okay, OS rookies out there. Sorry, I just feel the need to educate a little bit. I got a comment regarding "Boot Camp", the new little piece of BETA software that Apple released to allow MS Windows to dual boot on the new Apple Intel hardware.

Basically, this is old technology. Linux users have been doing this for several years, mainly Linux/Windows (because Linux is really meant for the x86 chips (i.e. Windows boxes)) and Linux/MacOSX on the PowerPC (yes, Linux does run on both the old and new Mac's).

My guess is that Apple basically took the Linux GRUB bootloader (has never been anything but BETA) and slapped their pretty little GUI on top so the end user could figure it out, which is a good thing (GRUB can be a b*tch the first couple of times you set it up). I'm guessing that somewhere out there, some super Linux user probably already had a triple boot machine setup (i.e. MacOSX, Windows and Linux) on the new Mac's, probably within a week or two of receiving the machine.

It still doesn't hold a candle to what will happen over the next couple of years with paravirtualization technology. Right now, a dual boot means you have to shut the machine off and turn it back on and tell the machine what OS to use. With paravirtualization, the machine will already have all of the OS's up and running and you'll just have to select the tab of the machine you want to use. I'm telling you, it's the wave of the future for developer's and geeks like me, and it's going to revolutionize the writing of software. It will completely relieve the grip that M$ has on the OS world. It's going to be huge, if people push it right. MacOSX (and any future version) and Linux will be able to get some traction against M$Windows if they will run on generic hardware (right now, Linux does, MacOS does not). Apple has to find a way to rework their plan and get away from selling hardware for so much more. I know, I know, a Macintosh is "cute" or "sexy" hardware. Well, I won't pay an extra 500-1000 dollars for "cute" or "sexy". Apple can kiss my behind. Let me have my juice for a decent price (you know, I'd probably pay an extra hundy for it though), and I'll buy your stuff.