Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual

Chapter 8. Windows on Macintosh

The very moment Apple announced in 2006 that all new Mac models would come with Intel chips inside, the geeks and the bloggers started going nuts. “Let’s see,” they thought. “Macs and PCs now use exactly the same memory, hard drives, monitors, mice, keyboards, networking protocols, and processors. By our calculations, it ought to be possible make a Mac run Windows!”

Now, some in the Cult of Macintosh were baffled by the very idea. Who on earth, they asked, wants to pollute the magnificence of the Mac with a headache like Windows?

Lots of people, as it turns out. Think of all the potential switchers who are tempted by the Mac’s sleek looks yet worry about leaving Windows behind entirely. Or the people who love Apple’s iLife programs but have jobs that rely on Microsoft Access, Outlook, or some other piece of Windows corporateware. Even true-blue Mac fans have occasionally looked longingly at the Windows-only games, Web sites, palmtop sync software, or movie download services they thought they’d never be able to use.

So hackers set about trying to make Windows run on Intel Macs almost immediately. But they were wasting their time; within weeks, Apple did the job for them—by inventing Boot Camp.

Actually, today, there are two ways to run Windows on a Mac with an Intel chip:

• Restart it in Boot Camp. Boot Camp is a little Apple program that lets you restart your Mac into Windows.

  At that point, it’s a full-blown Windows PC, with no trace of the Mac on the screen. ...