Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

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CHAPTER 27 WORKING WITH MICROSOFT WINDOWS AND OTHER OPERATING SYSTEMS
NOTE Emulation and virtualization seem similar in many cases but are quite different. Emulation
(like the original Virtual PC) requires that the code being run actually needs to be
translated before being used. (Virtual PC used dynamic recompilation to translate x86 code to
PowerPC code before the code could be run.) Virtualization, on the other hand, allows concurrent
computer processes to run using the same hardware by partitioning the hardware’s
memory and processing power so that each process runs entirely independently of every
other. Common “virtualization” software that runs on your Mac today actually is a hybrid of
both virtualization and emulation.
NOTE Leopard (and Tiger before that) actually contains its own emulation software that, like
the original Virtual PC, uses dynamic recompilation. This software (called Rosetta) does the
opposite, though. Rather than translate x86 code into PowerPC code, it makes sure old
PowerPC code on your Mac runs on the new x86 architecture.
Upon switching to an Intel-based platform, Apple changed everything. Today not only is it
possible to run Windows natively on your Apple computer, but a new range of virtualization
products are now available to Mac users that run extremely well with little performance loss.
As a Mac user (provided you are using an Intel-based Mac), you have a number of options
for running Windows on your computer. We’ll quickly go over each of these and point out the
pros and cons of each of them.
Boot Camp
Shortly after Apple started shipping Intel-based computers, it released a utility called Boot Camp
(which you had to seek out on its web site and download as a beta). Beginning with Leopard,
Boot Camp is included along with Mac OS X. To get it up and running, you can use the Boot
Camp Assistant that is located in the Applications/Utilities folder.
Running Boot Camp allows you to effectively turn your Mac computer into a full-fledged
Windows machine. The advantage of this is that all your Mac’s hardware will become dedicated
to running Windows. The significant issue here, which is not available through any current virtualization
or emulation methods, is that running in Boot Camp gives you full video
acceleration, which is a must for certain applications (including most Windows gaming).
Boot Camp has a few disadvantages as well, though:
• You must reboot your computer to switch between OS X and Windows.
• You must create a dedicated partition on an internal hard drive to install Windows on.
NOTE You cannot install Windows on an external hard drive right now using Boot Camp.
• You must have a full version of Windows XP SP2 or newer to install Windows with
Boot Camp.
Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion
Shortly after the release of Intel-based Macs, the buzz started increasing about a company called
Parallels (www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/) that was making a virtualization product for
the new Macs that would allow one to run Windows and other x86 operating systems on the
new Macs under OS X with exceptional performance. Sure enough, when Parallels Desktop for
the Mac was released, it did what it said it would. Soon, VMware, a company (now owned by
EMC) that has a long history of virtualization, announced it too was building a product for the
Mac; VMware has since released Fusion (www.vmware.com/products/fusion/; Figure 27-2) with
similar capabilities to Parallels Desktop. These two products, although slightly different, work
(from a user’s perspective) so similarly that it’s hard to pick one to recommend over the other.
Overall, they are both excellent.