MEETING DATE: Friday Feb 16, 2007 November 16, 2007

Apple Macintosh.  One’s visceral reaction to those two words often indicates where one stands in a great and long-standing cultural division among computer users that often reaches religious intensity (and heated, even hate-filled, debate). Fortunately, Mac OS and Windows users have, at least in this club, co-existed with each other without open rancor, yet the division between the two camps has remained.

The switch last year by Apple Inc. to use Intel processor chips instead of PowerPC chips has changed the landscape for both Mac and Windows users. Mac users who buy new Macs can now run Windows on these computers, and Windows users who buy new Macs can find out first-hand what Mac OS X is all about.

Apple’s release of their free BootCamp software, which makes it easy to install Windows on a Mac but requires a restart to switch operating systems, signalled Apple’s hope that it could attract Windows users it its computers and platform. 

So far, with the help of the iPod’s success, the strategy seems to be working.  I will demonstrate different ways to run Windows or Windows software on an Intel-based Apple Macintosh laptop, and discuss the relative merits of each method versus using a PC from another vendor. One method, Parallels Desktop, enables simultanious use of more than one operating system, while CodeWeaver’s CrossOver for Mac (built on the free, UNIX-based WINE project) allows users of new Macs to run (some) Windows-based programs in Mac OS X without Windows.

 I hope to see you at this month’s meeting.