NEWS: Intel-powered Macs can run Windows

**TechZ** · January 12th, 2006, 05:53 AM

Apple has confirmed that it won't prevent users from running Windows on Intel-based Macs:

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in an interview Tuesday that the company won't sell or support Windows itself, but also hasn't done anything to preclude people from loading Windows onto the machines themselves.

"That's fine with us. We don't mind," Schiller said. "If there are people who love our hardware but are forced to put up with a Windows world, then that's OK."

Schiller made the comments at Tuesday's Macworld Expo, where Microsoft also said it had signed a five-year pact with Apple to develop versions of Office for Macs and announced plans to release a version of Office that will be compatible with Apple's new Intel-based computers.

**emr** · January 12th, 2006, 07:40 PM

Interesting. I will be buying a Mac laptop in the near future. I'm wondering if this means you could dual boot with OSX & XP on the same machine?

I have MS & Apple clients so would be great to have the possibility of running whichever OS suits the client when on-site.

There is VirtualPC for Mac but there is nothing like running the real thing.

emr

**TechZ** · January 13th, 2006, 10:31 AM

Tech journos far and wide have been quick to jump on the story that while Apple says it isn’t doing anything to specifically prevent people from installing Windows on an Intel-based Mac, the new Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) that Apple is using on the new Macs won’t work with current generations of Windows.

EFI is the next-generation replacement for the 20-year-old BIOS, the oldest part of modern PCs which is in desperate need of an overhaul. EFI allows devices in the PC to be initialised before the operating system boots, and has features like full network support before the PC has even booted, allowing drivers to be downloaded and updated before an operating system loads. However, Intel Australia, while being careful not to comment on Apple’s hardware specifically, says motherboards based on the Intel 945 chipset already support EFI and can boot Windows with no problems.

Full story: apcmag.com

**3fingersalute** · January 13th, 2006, 10:46 AM

"forced to put up with a Windows world"

That's funny.

**confus-ed** · January 13th, 2006, 10:51 AM

..EFI is the next-generation replacement for the 20-year-old BIOS..

Arrgh ! take it away

, 'evil' EFI is all about digital rights management, & 'trusted computing' - not about making PC's 'better' .. openfirmware is what we want, sadly though I think commercial pressures will win the day.