backtop

Print 15 comment(s) - last by Odeen.. on Apr 23 at 12:25 PM

The original Apple Computer logo
Virtualization to the rescue

Steve Wozniak, the engineering wizard behind the original Apple computers, doesn't seem to like Apple's Boot Camp -- a piece of software that the company released a few short weeks ago that allowed its Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP natively. In an interview with the Seattle Times, Wozniak indicated that he does use Windows but not a PC. Instead, he currently uses Virtual PC to run Windows so that he can switch instantly between the two operating systems.

Like many users, Wozniak does not like to have to reboot his Mac in order to use a different OS. Wozniak also mentioned in the interview that he doesn't believe Boot Camp will make PC users jump up and make the switch to a Mac. "What I really want is just a window that I can go back and forth instantly. I don't have to reboot. I go to Macintosh, I go to the PC, I go to Macintosh" said Wozniak.

We wonder what Wozniak would think of Parallels' Workstation 2.1. The breakthrough virtualization application utilizes VT technology in Intel's Core Duo processors to give guest operating systems direct access to host processor resources. This technically allows a virtualized operating system to run at or near native speeds.

Wozniak also spoke a little bit about his relationship with Apple CEO Steve Jobs and indicated that he and Jobs are actually not very close friends at all. Jobs recently declined to write the foreword in Wozniak's upcoming autobiography. More on the interview here.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Poor disillusioned Steve-o...
By CZroe on 4/17/2006 2:10:04 PM , Rating: 2
What does he mean it won't convince people to switch? Honestly, it's the only reason I'm considering a MacBook Pro. There's no way I'd let that included ATI X1600 go to waste on the paultry selection of Mac games. I'd be able to have all my games on the go in a laptop that DOESN'T SUCK. Add an OS that kicks the pants off Windows and you've made yourself a sale.

Also, getting near native performance with VT doesn't solve the needs of Windows demanding game software. After all, they can't play nice together in contention for 3D resources on a real native machine! If it does allow real-time DX9 games running at comparable speeds in a virtual machine, color me surprised. That would be the real news.




RE: Poor disillusioned Steve-o...
By goku on 4/18/2006 7:06:13 AM , Rating: 1
Have you even SEEN the benchmarks of the mac pro? It's not even worth it to game on that machine...


RE: Poor disillusioned Steve-o...
By vortmax on 4/21/2006 8:24:13 AM , Rating: 2
Yes, I have one. Nothing a little overclocking won't solve.


RE: Poor disillusioned Steve-o...
By gez on 4/21/2006 1:32:41 PM , Rating: 2
Are you kidding? The MBP's x1600 clocked to full speed is an amazing gaming setup for a notebook. On mine, HL2 plays at 60fps.



RE: Poor disillusioned Steve-o...
By Rampage on 4/22/2006 1:12:38 PM , Rating: 2
LOL at little mac boys. X1600 hahahahaha.

Try a Geforce Go 7900GTX


RE: Poor disillusioned Steve-o...
By Odeen on 4/23/2006 12:25:57 PM , Rating: 2
Show me a 5.5lb laptop with a Geforce 7900 GTX Go, though.. the MacBook is in a pretty impressive form factor for something that powerful.


What do you use it for?
By jtesoro on 4/17/2006 11:21:24 AM , Rating: 3
Of course we all want to be able to switch between OSs instantly. Alt-Tab (or equivalent) to switch between OSX, XP, Linux or whatever. Unfortunately, there isn't anything there right now which allows you to do this without losing a significant amount of performance. Parallel's software is better than most (from what I read), but still falls short because it doesn't do virtualization for the GPU.

Boot Camp gives you the full performance of your hardware, so if you're a PC gamer, this is for you. Doesn't sound like Wozniak is using XP for games, so for this reason Boot Camp isn't for him. For a lot of other people though, this is what they'll need.




RE: What do you use it for?
By solgae1784 on 4/17/2006 11:38:01 AM , Rating: 2
Not all people are gamers or graphic professional - people just need windows to run a particular windows program, and for the most part, a simple GPU virtualization would be more than sufficient (like how Virtual PC does, for instance). For that reason, Parallel's software is more efficient in terms of productivity, as long as they can tweak out their software a bit more.

For gamers or graphic professionals, a Boot Camp is a better choice for obvious reasons.


So What?
By Phynaz on 4/17/06, Rating: 0
RE: So What?
By jtesoro on 4/17/2006 11:28:13 AM , Rating: 2
Well, maybe his opinion is not quite meaningless. At least it carries as much weight as ours (which may or may not be meaningless anyway).

I thought I read somewhere that he still holds some sort of advisory position at Apple. Couldn't find a link to it though...


Boot Camp is still beta...
By UNCjigga on 4/17/2006 11:51:15 AM , Rating: 2
Its important to remember that Apple's "Boot Camp" is still just a beta, and I'm sure it's only been released as a proof-of-concept for now.

Given that VT technology will come built-in or as an option with almost every new Mac, I think it'd be incredibly stupid if the shipping version of Boot Camp and OS X 10.5 didn't support concurrent sessions of OSes. If they don't, its only because they expect Parallel's product or Microsoft's VirtualPC to fill that niche.

I'd also expect the shipping Boot Camp to support various x86 flavors of Linux (or at least SuSE.)




And....
By AppaYipYip on 4/17/06, Rating: 0
Moderated
By tekkstore on 4/17/06, Rating: -1
RE: tekkstore.com
By jtesoro on 4/17/06, Rating: 0
RE: tekkstore.com
By kitchme on 4/17/06, Rating: 0
"You can bet that Sony built a long-term business plan about being successful in Japan and that business plan is crumbling." -- Peter Moore, 24 hours before his Microsoft resignation











botimage
Copyright 2013 DailyTech LLC. - RSS Feed | Advertise | About Us | Ethics | FAQ | Terms, Conditions & Privacy Information | Kristopher Kubicki