You can now boot XP and Linux natively on the new Intel Macs. That’s great news, as are the virtual machine guest OSes, Parallels and VMWare (sometime 2007).
Now I just might get around to installing Ubuntu or Fedora (Windows: bleh) and get around to installing a Shoutcast server onto my Linux shared server, more of a one-time thing; and so a VM Linux seems a better choice, sparing a re-partitioning hassle and the aggravation of booting in and out of Mac OSX and Linux.
XP is OK, but my experience is that most people abandon it forever after trying a Mac, simply liking it much better, oblivious to ROI, cost, etc. Of course, for most, a PC is a commodity like a toaster; and a really cool, different kind of toaster that can toast anything and do a bunch of other neat fun things, easily, effortlessly, reliably and elegantly, isn’t going to matter to them. It doesn’t process. The Mac is infectious, but the barrier to entry is pretty solid, as world view precepts can be.
My personal experience is that XP is inferior (unimportant) and unneeded (important). All the important stuff is cross-platform and on the Mac, with the exception of a few arcane, significant things such as CATIA, which is normally an aerospace-automotive-medical 3D with fullblown enterprise integration-automation, hardcore analytics, and a lot of automated design and intelligence, very different from the other 3Ds (available on Mac) that lack analytics and automated design, and are inexplicably discrete and disconnected from any fullblown enterprise automation. Well, now CATIA can run on a Mac computer.
Another minor thing is the lack of Bluetooth or wireless print adapters. I’d like to convert a great all-in-one, but so far it’s been fruitless. Bluetooth adapters don’t have a Mac installer, and even on the PC side, Bluetooth adapters only work with printers and not all-in-ones, and so there’s no easy way to install my drivers on the generic Bluetooth print device that shows up in the device search.
With 802.11 print adapters, again, most on the PC side only work with printers and not all-in-ones, although there are a few that work with all-in-ones, but enabling only printing, with scanning disabled. On the Mac side, they only work with postscript printers, but with scanning disabled, it’s really not worth getting a postscript driver to work. Again, a somewhat of a minor issue. If I really want to print wirelessly, I suppose I could ebay my hydra, or better yet give it away to a nonprofit and do some good and get a tax break bigger than the ebay price, and then get an out-of-the-box wireless.
Well, I’m rambling and starting to sound like a computer zombie (makes sign of the cross with index fingers).
What a beautiful day, after a couple of weeks of pretty much continuous, on and off and on again rain.
Peace to you and yours,
Ed
