The Calfornia Aggie get’s Boot Camp all wrong!

Recently I read this article over at The California Aggie Online regarding Boot Camp, the Mac OS X program that allows you to install Windows XP on your Apple computer. In the article the author – Venkat Pullena – makes several assertions about Boot Camp that are uninformed and blatantly wrong. Not only do they make such uninformed judgments but I doubt he/she has researched anything about Apple computers, or the Boot Camp software.

First off Boot Camp is NOT an emulator. It does two distinct but dependent functions. The first function is to write a Windows driver’s disk for your Mac hardware, this allows Windows XP to use the hardware it is being installed on properly and to its full functionality. Second it facilitates the ability to install Windows XP in a separate partition on the hard drive. Once Win XP is installed Boot Camp, which I will stress now is Beta software and Apple knows it may have bugs, has no other roll that I can deduce.

Second. Running Windows on your Mac hardware will not over load or burn out the equipment. Mac’s do tend to run in a cooler temperature but that is due to efficient hardware design. This is not due to the software being “easier” on the CPU. Running Windows or Mac OS X will make little difference except in performance; the basis for this is that Windows was designed to operate on a Intel chipset, which is exactly what Mac’s run now. It is also important to note that up till the Intel switch, the other Mac components are the same chipsets from ATI, IBM and other vendors that are used in PC components.

Third. Mac users are not computer illiterate or un-savvy. They tend to be very knowledgeable in the use of computers, and I would suggest that typical Windows users are less “tech” savvy than Mac users. Mac users are using Mac’s because they are experienced enough to know that the Mac has its superior points and it’s inferior aspects.

I would suggest that any user who takes it upon their selves to install an OS from scratch has to have a fair level of experience with computers. Dual booting, which is exactly what Boot Camp allows you to do, any system takes an above average user awareness of computers and software.

Finally Mac computers are excellent for video editing, photo editing, graphics, CGI, software development, word processing, and just about anything you want. To say they are only good for Media, School and surfing the internet is like saying MS Paint is just as good as Photoshop.

The assertions made in that article are baseless, and I doubt the writer had ever used a Mac let alone attempted to install Windows XP on the new Intel Chip-Based Mac’s.