Following this week's five-year commitment to the Mac platform, Microsoft said it is working with Apple to bring Virtual PC to the new Intel-architecture, although it didn't provide details about the release date. The company, however, said that it would not run under Rosetta, Apple's emulation environment that allows older PowerPC programs to run on Intel-based Macs. The company said that it would wait on receipt of the new shipping machines to better evaluate Virtual PC for Intel-Macs as well the final release date of Mac Office and Messenger for Intel-Macs; however, the company this week said it has dropped all development of Windows Media Player for the Mac.
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Member since:
2006-01-15
Does anyone know iEmulator. They have announce that they will release a Intel based emulator in a month with BIOS emulator to allow to Windows execution.
http://www.hardmac.com/news/2006-01-13/#4998
Edited 2006-01-16 13:39
Member since:
2006-01-16
I sure hope that MS (and VMware) bring their virtualization apps to the Intel Macs. If they integrate it real tight (including services etc), we could finally have the best of both worlds working together seamlessly and without big performance penalties. I'm gonna watch these developments closely!
Member since:2005-07-06
If they integrate it real tight (including services etc), we could finally have the best of both worlds working together seamlessly and without big performance penalties.
Unlikely, because they run the whole Windows operating system on top of simulated hardware. So you can network those two OSs, and Mac harddisks can appear under Windows, but for more seamless integration you'd need a higher-level solution such as Wine.
Member since:2006-01-16
[...] but for more seamless integration you'd need a higher-level solution such as Wine.
It certainly would need an emulation layer above hardware level. But it's worth a thought - there's a lot of people (developers for example) who would like to switch to a Mac but require some Windows software, without the need to double-boot. And obviously, MS could charge for VirtualPC and Windows at the same time, making money and inroads into the Mac platform.
Member since:
2005-07-08
Is this the MS that has given its five year commitment to Mac within weeks of announcing the end of OSX IE and WMP? 
Saying MS has a five year commitment to Mac is a mis-statement. MS committed five years of MS Office support. Nothing more AFAIK. And that is probably largely to fight OpenDocument arguments.
Member since:2005-11-09
Member since:2006-01-04
Member since:
2005-07-27
Member since:
2005-07-07
What about porting Wine (http://www.winehq.org/) for software compatibility as the hardware compatibility is already mostly guaranteed due to the, urm, hardware?
Damien
Member since:2005-07-06
Already exists, it's called Darwine ( http://darwine.opendarwin.org/ ) And Codeweavers of Crossover Office fame supports it and has said they will port over their flagship product to the Mac.
Member since:
2005-07-06
Just to play devils advocate - why port WINE?
WINE is a reverse-engineering of windows libs (from what I understand). The windows libs keep changing since windows is a live OS and always changing. I would much rather have VMware or VPC for *better* compatibility - I dont mind paying for windows if I know things will work.
Member since:2005-11-09
Member since:
2006-01-12
Seen that the new mac's incorpate intels virtualisation tech on chip (vanderpool) any VM's ported to them that utilise it will give alot better performance. I assume the new VirtualPC for Mac will basically use the same underlying code as VirtualPC for Windows, but with a Mac specific frontend thrown on.
Member since:
2006-01-04
Yes this news story is incomplete. While it lists that MS is not developing WMP for Mac anymore, it fails to mention that Microsoft cut a deal with Flip4Mac to distribute their WMV player for free on the MS web site.
http://www.flip4mac.com/pr_06_01_10a.htm