Apple Macs to run rival Windows XP software

It's official: new Apple Macs with Intel chips can now directly run Microsoft's rival Windows XP operating system - with Apple's approval and support.

In a move that many users of Apple's Macintosh computers never thought they'd see, Apple yesterday released the beta version of a program, called Boot Camp, that will allow users to directly install XP on their Macs.

Apple chief executive Steve Job's announcement last year that Apple would switch from PowerPC chips to the Intel chips long used for running Windows shocked many observers but delighted others, not least because of the possibility that Mac users could directly run Windows on their Macs.

Several unofficial contests in recent weeks had programmers vying to get Windows to install successfully on a Mac. While some had succeeded, few observers were expecting Apple itself to offer free software so quickly, if at all, to accomplish the same task.

Apple said users need to run the Boot Camp software, after which they can use the normal XP installation disks to load Windows onto their Mac. Their Mac can then boot into either Mac OS or XP. The software will be a part of "Leopard", the next major release of Mac OS.

"Apple has no desire or plan to sell or support Windows, but many customers have expressed their interest to run Windows on Apple's superior hardware, now that we use Intel processors.

We think Boot Camp makes the Mac even more appealing to Windows users considering making the switch," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in a statement yesterday.

Apple has never allowed the Mac operating system to be run on anything other than Macs and very briefly, third-party PowerPC based computers. But Apple has never opposed (nor directly supported) running Windows or other operating systems such as Linux on a Mac.

Until now, Windows could only run in a virtual environment on a Mac using a Microsoft-owned program called VirtualPC. Because VirtualPC does not allow Windows to directly connect to the PowerPC chip, Windows could not run as quickly or efficiently as on a computer with a chip designed to run Windows.

Some analysts believe the ability to run both systems on one computer will boost Macintosh sales, especially as Microsoft has again postponed the launch of its next release of Windows, called Vista, until early next year.

Apple holds only about a 4 per cent share of the worldwide computer market but has hoped to use the popularity of its iPod and resulting wider brand awareness to get people to switch to Macs.

JPMorgan Chase said: "We believe this news . . . provides a critical boost to Apple's ability to gain share in the PC market."